Manure Tanks 



i6!3 



ally those who are fond of doing things by 

 halves, take another method of partially fixing 

 the ammonia of urine. They dispense with a 

 tank, in the proper sense of the term, and 

 allow the excess of urine above what is re- 

 quired to saturate the dung in the court-yard, 

 to nm into an open trench, in which is placed 

 a quantity of earth or peat. Earth can rarely 

 do much besides taking up the urine in its 

 pores, and permitting it to be removed and 

 applied like ordinary compost. Peat is better, 

 and can fix a portion of ammonia, but in both 

 cases the solid matter speedily fall to the 

 bottom, and urine floats and putrifies and 

 wastes above it. On several well-managed 

 farms we have seen a layer of rich peat earth 

 evenly laid behind the cattle in the stalls, to 

 absorb the urine as soon as voided. In the 

 absence of well-laid and cleanly-kept gutters 

 for conveying the urine speedily to the tank, 

 this is perhaps as good and cheap a practice 

 as can be had recourse to ; but the saturated 

 peat should be carried to a compost heap, in 

 v/hich the fermentation is low, or has been 

 completed, and not be cast into the hot 

 dunghill. 



No method, however, can at all compare 

 with sulphuric acid for fixing the ammonia 

 of the tank. It is not, like g}^psum, liable to 

 fall to the bottom, but diffuses itself through 

 the whole, so that there is no nook nor comer 

 in which it is not ready to lay hold of the 

 ammonia the moment it is produced. 



Nothing can be more simple or easily man- 

 aged, for there are no weighings or measurings 



required to proportion the acid to the urine : 

 the simple rule is, unless at the time when the 

 tank is to be emptied, an excess of sulphuric 

 acid should always be kept in the tank. But 

 how is a plain unlettered grieve or bailiff to 

 to know when there is excess in the tank or 

 not ? Simply thus : let him purchase and 

 keep beside him a book of grey litmus paper 

 from any druggist or dealer in chemicals, and 

 whenever he wishes to try the state of the 

 tank, let him stir the contents a little, and 

 then dip a slip of paper into the tank ; if the 

 paper becomes red, there is excess of acid 

 present, if it becomes blue there is a deficiency, 

 and he requires to pour in a fresh supply of 

 of sulphuric acid. At the time the neutralised 

 urine is to be applied, it should neither change 

 the paper to red nor blue, but leave it of the 

 same colour as it would be left by pure water. 

 The advantages of using sulphuric acid are 

 manifold. Thus, the whole ammonia is re- 

 tained, and that which retains it does not in 

 any degree interfere with its formation. 

 Again, no dilution is required, and this ex- 

 pense is saved in carting out. Further, the 

 urine, after undergoing putrefaction, and hav- 

 ing its ammonia fixed, may be pumped back 

 upon the dunghill without causing or suffering 

 loss, if the farmer knows no more efifectual 

 way of applying it to the land. Lastly, neu- 

 tralised urine may be applied by the water- 

 cart to any sort of growing crops without in 

 the least scorching them, while unneutralised 

 urine cannot be so applied unless very largely 

 diluted with water. 



