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Show J USING MANURE ON DRY FARM Essential That There Bs Sufficient Moisture to Dlseolve Out All the Plant Food. The question whether fresh stabls manure should , be applied on land ( where tho rain full la ao email as to make "dry farming" necessary cannot . be answered unconditionally. One ! thing is very certuln. ordinary stable 1 manure, worked Into the top soil, will ' In a very dry climate, make the land l still drier, ssys the Northwestern Stockman and Farmer. Manure can-not can-not benefit any soil unless there Is moisture enough to dissolve out the plunt rood so that It can be utilised by growing plants of whatever Is planted "o merely spread It on the surface will make It do more to keep the moisture In the soil; but tho plant food In manure will have a very pool chance to benefit tlio growth of any crop unless there Is water enough to dmaolve out the elements of plant food that will glvn value to manure. Where the land Is under Irrigation, however, the crops will get the benefit of all the manure put on the land. - It will be a better plan In using manure on such land to bulk It, and keep It wet by frequent applications ol abundant water and forking It over often, till It Is wet all through and kept so till It Is In a pretty well rotted rot-ted condition, and then It will be very btnertclul. If well mixed with soli. And tbe working of thoroughly rotted manure ma-nure Into dry aolt will help to retain the IV Ua moisture that rises from below. be-low. To get the greatest good from the manure, It should be piled up In alternate alter-nate layers of dirt and manure, kept thoroughly wet, and then mixed well all together and applied to the land. This can be spread on the land and harrowed In well with a disk harrow, and whenever anything la planted the best plan la to run over the land with a land roller that will compact tbe aoll as much as possible. Well-rotted manure ma-nure Is alwaya better than fresh on land that keeps dry most of the time. In a matter of this sort, however, the character; of the soil and local condl lions must govern to a large extent There Is considerable difference in both the aoll and tbe climate In the various parts of the country where the rainfall Is very small, and every one ought to make some tests for himself him-self to determine just what method Is best. Uut of one thing every one tan feel sure; that Is, that the plant 'ood In no sort of manure can be very beneficial to growing crops unless there is sufficient moisture to dissolve out the plant food and put It In shape o be assimilated by a growlug crop. Hut It Is safe to adopt, as a rule, not to work Into the soil In any dry section any very bulky manure. It will pay to take some trouble to bulk It up, and keep It so wet that it will get pretty wi 11 rotted. Even In humid parts of tie country light, dry manure does very little good to growing crops, and It Is Impossible to Incorporate Into the soli any aort of fresh manure so thoroughly as to make tbe plant food eaay to assimilate. Dry Farming Brlnga Results. Some complaints have been made that dry farming methods do not succeed suc-ceed In very dry years and that hence these methods are wrong. Plants will not grow without some moisture, and i the season of 1911 waa unusually sev ere In Its beat and drought because It j followed two other similar seasons lm-mediately. lm-mediately. The preceding seasons were not so bad, butlhe rain came at such time of the year that there was J comparatively little moisture In the I soil during the growing periods. This, however, should not argue against the dry farming methods, as they are simply good farming methods which are applicable in a greater or less degree de-gree to every section of the United Btatea. Dry farming methods do pro duce good results in three seasons out of five and are more likely to produce ' results every year than any other method which has been devised Record, Rec-ord, Tort Chester. N. Y. |