ing season. It is a universal rule not to allow manure to lie
long on the surface to which it is applied, before plowing in. Place
manure in heaps, as large as will be convenient for spreading, and
spread it just before the plow. Never spread manure one day to be plowed
in the next. When manuring in the hill, have the planters follow the
manure-cart. In manuring potatoes in the hill, drop the potatoes, and
put the manure on them and cover at once. In a dry season, the yield
will be double that of those planted in the usual way. For fall grains,
plow in the manure, just before sowing the seed. This is better than
plowing it in under the sod. If the land be not sod land, and you can
plow the manure in only deep enough to cover it, and then, just before
sowing the seed, plow again very deep, the effect is excellent. Apply
manure to land in the fall, or just after harvest, and plow it in, let
the land remain till spring, and then plow deep, and you get the best
possible effect. On an onion crop, manure does the most good on the
surface. On those raised from sets, or on any onions, after they get
large enough to give room, put fine manure enough to keep down all
weeds, and it will double the crop.

Gypsum is better sowed than in any other way. Mixed with a little lime
and salt, or wood-ashes and salt, the effect on corn is better than from
either alone. To hoed crops apply these articles twice, and always by
sowing, and not by putting it around or upon the hills; the effect is
much greater sowed, besides the labor that is saved. In applying guano,
do not allow it to come in contact with the plants, as it is apt to
destroy them.

It only remains to consider the principles on which manure acts upon
soils, and produces growth in plants. The action of manure on the soil,
by which it is enabled to retain and appropriate moisture, constitutes
its main, if not its whole benefit. It may afford a stimulus to the
roots of plants. Even the specific manures, that are supposed to supply
organic matter to particular plants, may impart their benefits by their
action upon the air and water. Facts are certainly at hand to show that
the great and leading benefits of manures are in their control of
moisture, and where that control is not needed, plants get a great
growth on what we call poor soil. No manures, either fossil or
putrescent, afford any considerable food for plants. Vegetation
receives its growth mainly from water and from the atm