Jerri, I think you mentioned in TreeMail that you had access to fresh horse manure, and I advised composting it (at least a little) before adding it to a raised bed.
Well, apparently, back in 1905 they weren't so fastidious with field crops or "coarse feeders" like corn. This author advised hauling and spreading fresh manure daily, if it wasn't too much work.
BUT
The Project Gutenberg eBook of The First Book Of Farming,
© 1905 by Charles L. Goodrich (Farmer and USDA expert)
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebook...
Charles Goodrich pointed out that nitrates and humus were lost from manure during composting, storage or aging (by leaching and microbial action). Therefore he adivsed applying manure fresh if practicable.
“The manure may be hauled directly to the field each day and spread on the surface or plowed in. This method is the best when practicable because fermentation of the manure will take place slowly in the soil and the gases produced will be absorbed and retained by the soil.”
BUT he said:
““If it is desired to apply manure directly to delicate rooted truck and vegetable crops it is best to let it stand for some time until the first rank fermentation has taken place and the manure has become rotten.”
“For the vegetable garden and flower garden and lawns, it is best to apply only manure that has been piled for some time and has been turned over several times so that it is well rotted and broken up. “
So he did advocate some composting before applying to “truck gardens” and vegetables. Presumably he would have advised the same for raised beds, but YMMV.
Fast-forwarding from 1905 to 2013 (sorry for any whiplash), we have a "Food Safety and Modernization Act" coming. It will impose complex tests and rigid procedures for applying animal manures to fields ... controlled composting and voluminous paperwork is about to become the law of the land for farms selling more than (something like) $100,000 per year. But if you only make 5% profit, can you live on $5,000 per year, especially after you take on the new testing and paperwork?
Geeze, I wish they had just mandated Porta-Potties and hand wipes in fields big enough be worked by hired hands.
To reduce the loss of nutrients from manure, he (Charles, Mr. USDA 1905) advised mixing “hot” manures like horses' with “cold” manures like cows', and having lots of litter and bedding in both. (Now we call that mixing “browns with greens”.)
“The presence of considerable amounts of soluble nitrogen hastens the rapidity of the fermentation.”
“... a number of compounds of nitrogen, potash, etc., are formed which are soluble in water. It is these that form the dark brown liquid that sometimes oozes out from the base of the manure heap. “
“A good practice is to apply the manure in its fresh condition to coarse feeding crops like corn, and then follow the corn by a more delicate rooted crop which requires the manure to be in a more decomposed condition than is necessary for the corn. In this case the corn is satisfied and the remaining manure is in proper condition for the following crop when it is planted.”
“Another practice is to broadcast the coarse manure on grass land and then when the hay is harvested the sod and remaining manure are plowed under for the following crop.”
