562 Stall-Manure and Sfraiv. [December, 



Of tlie proximate constituents of plants, two leading classes are 

 distinguished, the combustible (organic,) and incombustible, (inor- 

 ganic ;) of these, the first alone are capable of fermentation and pu- 

 trefaction, the latter not. 



Amongst organic substances a distinction is made between such as 

 contain, and such as do not contain, azote or nitrogen, and the former 

 must be regarded as more scarce and valuable, as well for foddering 

 animals, as for manuring plants. Now it is precisely these azotized 

 constituents that are always first changed ; for they introduce and 

 transfer to the other ingredients the putrefactive fermentation, by 

 the intervention of visible and invisible animals of all kinds (infuso- 

 ria, maggots, worms, etc.) If by this means their nitrogen finally 

 enters into a volatile combination, in other words, into ammonia, 

 then it is evident that the farmer who carelessly abandons his stall- 

 manure, to the process of putrefaction, will in the generality of 

 cases, lose considerable ciuantities of the manuring elements it con- 

 tains, and of these elements, precisely those which have the highest 

 value. With the ammonia other volatile combinations of sulphur 

 and phosphorus (sulphureted hydrogen, etc.) are simultaneously 

 generated, and these likewise escape in an aerial form. They pos- 

 sess an extremely offensive odor, the same as that of rotten eggs, 

 which is strong in proportion to the putrefactive fermentation. 

 Hence, from the strength of the stench emitted during the putrefac- 

 tion of animal manure, a tolerably accurate conclusion may be drawn 

 with respect to the loss of strength which may be feared. The old 

 maxim of the peasantry, " Whatever stinks is good for manuring," 

 is perfectly true ; the more, therefore, stinking gasses (containing 

 nitrogen and sulphur) and vapors escape from a dung heap into the 

 air, the less of course can it continue to retain. 



Those parts of plants which contain little or no nitrogen (for 

 instance, straw, wood, sugar, starch,) emit no disagreeable odor, dur- 

 ing putrefaction ; this kind of change is called, by way of distinction, 

 fermentation. Animal substances are richest in nitrogen, and 

 amongst vegetable matter, the seed ; hence the great difference in the 

 odor, where potatoes, sawdust, sugar, etc., which have been sprinkled 

 with water, are left standing until they pass into fermentation or pu- 

 trefaction. 



Heat is generated by most chemical processes, and in most consid- 

 erable degree by those which resemble combustion. Digestion and 

 respiration have been shown to be such processes; so also are putre- 



