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Show 3 Increase Manure Supply Necessitates ? An Increase In Available Water Thomas L. Martin, AK.oon,i.st prigham Young University ;; when the farmer after years of il, mine finds that his soil contains Jw ovsanic matter, nitrogen, car-Ion car-Ion dioxide, and available nitrogen; that the soil is tougher and u "dcr to work: that it cracks more, S the Plow does not scour he 1, , illv becomes discouraged. What he do' The answer is "Put the inure back and all will be well." 5-Sis has been the spirit of the previous prev-ious three articles in this series. A rcW precautions need to be taken, however. "n Manure on one's land if used too "i heavily on an acre actually results n' the crop burning up. In some Saris of our Western country sweet Clover is grown for green manure .mirposes and plowed under and then She crop burns. Farmers in some "Ceas are actually afraid to turn Sunder an alfalfa field because the Subsequent crops suffer. It has heen found in some observations iV'that after an alfalfa field has been plowed under, seven successive lain crops have failed, while a tei"hboring field with no alfalfa has resulted in a satisfactory crop of grain. Even commercial fertilizer has been used and resulted in a crop failure, yet all that has been done has been in accord with good healthful soil fortuity practices. In the West one must remember that water is not only too plentiful. Extra water is needed to decompose the manures. Crops are stimulated due to this increased fertility. They grow vigorously and a larger root system develops and draws on the water. There is also a greater amount of leaf surface to cause water loss by transpiration. Later in the season drought spells come, water turns are less frequent, and crops burn up because there is little water available during the latter part of the season and the demand is greater because of this increased j fertility. Consequently, increased j fertility docs mean more production, I but it means also that more water must be available to support that increase. in-crease. If water is scarce it would be better to spread the manure over j a larger area of ground. I The fertility problem is a big one. ', It is complex. The structure of the I soil, the composition of the organic j matter, the amount of carbon diox-I diox-I ide and nitrogen present, the kind j of animal manures used, the amount ! of bedding, the time of the year to ' apply, crops on which to apply, and many other problems indicate that the farmer's job is one of the most challenging of jobs. No ordinary man can be a farmer. It takes intelligence in-telligence and it takes work. It takes shrewdness and it takes managerial man-agerial ability. . A farmer who is a success is a man to be admired, and a farmer can be a success if he will use his talents and apply the principles prin-ciples which . have already been worked out by the many experimenters experi-menters throughout the country. |
