A, B, Manure Heaps; C, D, E,
Ridges, 2½ ft. apart. The location of the manure-heap in the field deserves some consideration. If the manure is to be used for root-crops or potatoes, and if the land is to be ridged, and the manure put in the ridges, then it will be desirable to put the heap on the headland, or, better still, to make two heaps, one on the headland top of the field, and the other on the headland at the bottom of the field, as shown in the annexed engraving.
We draw the manure with a cart, the horse walking between two of the ridges (D), and the wheels of the cart going in C and E. The manure is pulled out at the back end of the cart into small heaps, about five paces apart.
“That is what I object to with you agricultural writers,” said the Doctor; “you say ‘about five paces,’ and sometimes ‘about five paces’ would mean 4 yards, and sometimes 6 yards; and if you put 10 tons of manure per acre in the one case, you would put 15 tons in the other—which makes quite a difference in the dose.”
The Doctor is right. Let us figure a little. If your cart holds 20 bushels, and if the manure weighs 75 lbs. to the bushel, and you wish to put on 10 tons of manure per acre, or 1,500 bushels, or 13⅓ cart-loads, then, as there are 43,560 square feet in an acre, you want a bushel of manure to 29 square feet, or say a space 2 yards long, by nearly 5 feet wide.
Now, as our ridges are 2½ feet apart, and as our usual plan is to manure 5 ridges at a time, or 12½ feet wide, a load of 20 bushels of manure will go over a space 46½ feet long, nearly, or say 15½ yards; and so, a load would make 3 heaps, 15½ feet apart, and there would be 6⅔ bushels in each heap.
If the manure is to be spread on the surface of the land, there is no necessity for placing the heap on the headland. You can make the heap or heaps. —“Where most convenient,” broke in the Deacon. —“No, not by any means,” I replied; “for if that was the rule, the men would certainly put the heap just where it happened to be the least trouble for them to draw and throw off the loads.”
The aim should be to put the heap just where it will require the least labor to draw the manure on to the land in the spring.
On what we call “rolling,” or hilly land, I would put the heap on the highest land, so that in the spring the horses would be going down hill with the full carts or wagons. Of course, it would be very unwise to adopt this plan if the manure was not drawn from the yards until spring, when the land was soft; but I am now speaking of drawing out the manure in the winter, when there is sleighing, or when the ground is frozen. No farmer will object to a little extra labor for the teams in the winter, if it will save work and time in the spring.