176 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



manure to their fields in liquid form, if they could be convinced 

 that it -was desirable to do so. The true condition of manure to 

 be applied, and method of applying, for us, is to carry it to the 

 field and thoroughly mingle it with the soil, in a state as completely 

 soluble as can be attained without loss of any of its fertilizing 

 properties. 



The important question, in the existing state of things, is the 

 method of preserving manures so as they may be applied in any 

 form or manner. 



Without claiming perfect accuracy on the point, it is deemed safo 

 to say, that something more than fifty per cent, of the manure made 

 from the farm stock is lost in the onset, by suffering the liquid portion 

 to run to waste. True, some farmers are saving it by the use of 

 absorbents, but the number is so small in comparison with the Avhole, 

 that the excess of value in the liquid, above the solid portion, (being, 

 according to the best authority, as five to four.) is so great, that the 

 average waste is more than one-half. This estimate applies only to 

 " housing time " — to stock that is housed, and to the manure made 

 in the house. Manure made by stock in j^ards, both summer and 

 •winter, suffers still greater wastes, and the manure from flocks is, 

 during the warm season, almost without exception, an entire loss ; 

 not so much as enriching their own pastures, being dropped in the 

 woods, by the sides of streams and ponds, or wherever the sheep can 

 find a shade. Add to these the waste of pig manure, poultry 

 manure, sink water, night water, night soil, bones, dead animals, 

 and other refuse about farm establishments, and the aggregate waste 

 must equal two-thirds the fertilizing matter made from the consump- 

 tion of farm produce, which, with proper conveniences and proper 

 care, might be returned to the soil to aid in reproduction. 



However important and profitable it may be, in some cases, to 

 apply imported specific manures to renovate exhausted lands, the 

 only reliable source of fertilizers to continue and increase the pro- 

 ductiveness of our farms, is the manure made upoji them, and 

 from tJuir products. 



Should any think the waste is here estimated higher than the 

 facts will warrant, let such objectors cast about them for proof of 

 the unsoundness of the position assumed. How many of the floors 

 of cattle "tie-ups" and pig houses of farmers who take due caro 



