78 



MANAGEMENT OF MANURE. 



ter the straw cannot suck up, will run into 

 the hole A, out of which it should afterwards 

 be drawn, and poured again over the heap. 

 At the same time that the layer of raw manure 

 is placed on the floor of the trench, there 

 should be scattered among it a quantity of 

 gypsum (plaster of Paris,) if that can be 

 had cheap, or else some powdered green 

 vitriol ; then the fluid which drains away 

 will consist of those ingredients or their 

 elements, water, etc. The object of add- 

 ing such substances, is to prevent the loss 

 of ammonia, an invaluable substance, which 

 flies away from manure, if you let it alone, 

 but which either the gypsum or the green 

 vitriol holds fast, and keeps with them- 

 selves in the manure. Gypsum (plaster of 

 Paris) is, in many places, the cheapest ma- 

 terial ; but the wholesale price of green vit- 

 riol is not more than five shillings per one 

 hundred weight in the London market ; 

 and probably the material called sail-cake, 

 and now worth about three shillings and 

 six-pence per one hundred weight, would 

 answer the same purpose. 



When there is a fresh supply of raw ma- 

 nure ready, it should be placed in a layer 

 over the first, mixed with gypsum or green 

 vitriol, or some other "fixer," and well 

 trampled down ; then let it be thoroughly 

 watered with the fluid in the hole A, if 

 there is enough there ; or with water from 

 the pump, if what has drained into A is not 

 sufficient. Water or drainings should be 

 constantly added to these heaps, for it is of 

 the first importance that the manure should 

 be kept continually moist, in order to has- 

 ten its decay. In this manner the manure 

 heap may be increased from time to time, 

 as raw manure accumulates, until it is too 

 high to be conveniently raised farther, or 

 to allow of water or drainings being easily 

 poured over it. By degrees the whole 



mass will become a soft pasty substance ; 

 and when in that condition, will be fit to 

 put upon the land, or to lie by till wanted. 

 In the latter case, however, care must be 

 taken not to allow any of its " goodness" 

 to be wasted out of it again ; and reservoirs 

 should be formed at the edge of it, to re- 

 ceive what does run from it, which should 

 be poured over it again, or carried and used 

 elsewhere. 



If this plan were merely speculative, we 

 should have nevertheless thought it worth 

 proposing ; but it is, in fact, the result of 

 experience. It is essentially the same as 

 that practiced by Mr. Schattenmann, and 

 seems to us the best method of managing 

 the dung-hill that has been yet proposed. 

 It has the great merit of saving everything, 

 of wasting nothing, and of causing no other 

 additional expense than that of the pur- 

 chase of the gypsum, (which would proba- 

 bly be bought without being thus applied,) 

 or of a boy occasionally to attend to the 

 watering the dung-hills. Although we 

 entertain no sort of doubt of the extreme 

 importance of attending to these sugges- 

 tions, and of the ample return they will 

 make for any expense connected with them, 

 we shall be quite satisfied if any of our 

 readers will try them first in a small way, 

 and then ascertain for themselves the rela- 

 tive effect per load of common farm-yard 

 manure, and manure prepared in this more 

 careful manner. 



[We will only add to the foregoing most 

 practical and useful suggestions, that, in our 

 climate, with its great extremes of heat and 

 moisture, it is still better if there is a cover- 

 ing — a rough open shed, or the like, over 

 the manure heap. 



Where there is abundance of peat or dry 

 black bog earth at hand, it may be used 

 instead of gypsum, etc., as a " fixer " for 



