Farmyard Manure. 139 



Sufficient evidence is thus presented in the analyses of these 

 liquids, that, as the draining-s of both fresh and rotten dung- 

 heaps are allowed to flow into the next ditch, concentrated 

 solutions of the most valuable constituents of dung are carelessly 

 wasted. 



With a view of preventing such a serious loss, I have sug- 

 gested the propriety of carting the manure on the fields, when- 

 ever practicable, in a fresh state, and of spreading it at once. It 

 may be objected that the application of manure in a fresh state, 

 equivalent to winter manuring, and especially the spreading 

 of dung, will lead to waste, inasmuch as the rain which falls 

 during the winter and spring has much more chance of washing 

 out fertilizing substances from dung than by applying it at the 

 time of sowing. This objection would indeed be a valid one, if 

 we were not acquainted with the fact that all soils containing a 

 moderate proportion of clay possess the property of retaining the 

 more valuable constituents of manure ; but, this being the case, 

 the objection on these grounds cannot be admitted. With more 

 force, however, it may be made with reference to liglit sandy 

 soils, and it is indeed upon such soils that manure is best applied 

 in spring. 



I would remind the reader of the interesting and important 

 observations of Mr. Thompson with respect to the property of 

 soils of absorbing manuring matters,* and beg to refer him to the 

 highly important investigations of Professor Way on the same 

 subject. The papers of Professor Way on this subject are full 

 of interest ; they embody highly important results, and constitute 

 most valuable contributions to our agricultural literature. A 

 careful perusal of these papers will afford strong evidence that 

 soils not merely possess the power of absorbing and retaining 

 gaseous ammonia, but that they also have the property of sepa- 

 rating this fertilizer, as well as potash and other manuring 

 matters, from their soluble combinations. 



Professor ^Vay principally operated with simple salts, and it 

 may therefore be urged, with some plausibility, that, in the case 

 of a highly complex mixture of soluble substances, such as that 

 presented in the liquid portion of manure, changes may take place 

 in the soil which lead to a waste of manure, when applied long 

 before the crop is sown which it is intended to benefit. Thus 

 it may be urged that it by no means follows that because a soil 

 absorbs ammonia when a solution of sulphate of ammonia is 

 passed through it, the same absorption will take place when an 

 ammoniacal salt, mixed with some dozen of other substances, is 

 passed through it. 



* Journal, vol. xi. p. 68. 



