CHAPTER XXXII.

WHAT CROPS SHOULD MANURE BE APPLIED TO.

"It will not do any harm on any crop," said the Deacon, "but on my farm
it seems to be most convenient to draw it out in the winter or spring,
and plow it under for corn. I do not know any farmer except you who uses
it on potatoes."

My own rule is to apply manure to those crops which require the most
labor per acre. But I am well aware that this rule will have many
exceptions. For instance, it will often pay well to use manure on
barley, and yet barley requires far less labor than corn or potatoes.

People who let out, and those who work farms "on shares" seldom
understand this matter clearly. I knew a farmer, who last year let out a
field of good land, that had been in corn the previous year, to a man to
sow to barley, and afterwards to wheat on "the halves." Another part of
the farm was taken by a man to plant corn and potatoes on similar terms,
and another man put in several acres of cabbage, beets, carrots, and
onions on halves. It never seemed to occur to either of them that the
conditions were unequal. The expense of digging and harvesting the
potato-crop alone was greater than the whole cost of the barley-crop;
while, after the barley was off, the land was plowed once, harrowed, and
sowed to winter wheat; and nothing more has to be done to it until the
next harvest. With the garden crops, the difference is even still more
striking. The labor expended on one acre of onions or carrots would put
in and harvest a ten-acre field of barley. If the tenant gets pay for
his labor, the landlord would get say $5 an acre for his barley land,
and $50 for his carrot and onion land. I am pretty sure the tenants did
not see the matter in this light, nor the farmer either.

Crops which require a large amount of labor can only be grown on very
rich land. Our successful market-gardeners, seed-growers, and nurserymen
understand this matter. They must get great crops or they cannot pay
their labor bill. And the principle is applicable to ordinary farm
crops. Some of them require much more labor than others, and should
never be grown unless the land is capable of producing a maximum yield
per acre, or a close approximation to it. As a rule, the least-paying
crops are those which require the least labor per acre. Farmers are
afraid to expend much money for labor. They are wise in this, unless all
the conditions are favorable. But when they have land in a high sta