FERTILIZERS. 43 



Where no cellars are provided for the manure taken from the stables, it should be 

 protected from the rain and sun by covered sheds, which will repay the farmer for 

 furnishing, in the amount of rich fertilizing material saved, the quantity thus saved 

 soon repaying expense of the sheds. Where cellars for its storage are used, many farmers 

 prefer muck or peat as an absorbent of the liquid portions ; but in such cases it is necessary that 

 the material be perfectly dry, and in order to secure this condition, it should be dug from the 

 muck or peat bed and thrown into heaps, where it is left several months exposed to the air and 

 sun. The drying and decomposing process can be greatly facilitated by shovelling over the 

 piles and admitting the air occasionally. Some advise mixing lime, (three or four bushels to 

 a cord of muck,) first slacking it with water; wood ashes are also often used for this purpose, 

 about fifteen bushels to the same quantity. When dry and ready for use it should be stored 

 in some convenient shed. Only a small quantity will be required to absorb the liquid accumu 

 lations of the stable each day. Dried leaves, straw, and clay are also used for this purpose. 

 Some prefer saw dust for the bedding of stock, and as an absorbent of the liquids of the 

 stable, which is found very valuable for this purpose; but it should be quite dry, or it will 

 be entirely useless. It readily absorbs the liquids, and is easily mixed with the solid manure 

 and soil, when applied to lands. Dry loam has been found to be a valuable absorbent also, 

 when used in the stables for this purpose. Mr. Albert Day of Brooklyn thus describes his 

 method of preserving stable manure: 



&quot; In the preservation and preparation of manure the principle of the old adage holds 

 good A penny saved is a penny earned. Hence, my first care is to guard against the loss 

 of valuable ingredients of the manure caused by the action of the weather, and by the escape 

 of the ammonia set free in the process of fermentation. 



&quot; To accomplish this end and to make the largest quantity of the most valuable manure, 

 my milch cows are kept in the stable nights from about the first of September until about the 

 first of June, and in the winter months eighteen to twenty hours per day. The stables are 

 littered with refuse hay or straw, and the manure is thrown into a cellar beneath, where I 

 usually have some three-cart loads of loam for every animal housed. The manure is spread 

 over a portion of the cellar at intervals and covered with the loam, at the same time throwing 

 on plaster. I have preferred this course to that of putting muck or loam in the stable to 

 absorb the liquid portion, as one involving less expense, and securing equal benefits. The 

 bulk of the other manures upon the farm are from the hog-pen, horse-stable, and barn-yard. 



&quot; The cpmpost in the cellar is worked over two or three weeks before use, when it is 

 drawn to the field and ploughed in, and the compost from the barn-yard and hog-pen worked 

 in on the furrows with a Shares harrow. I plow in much less now than in former years, for 

 the reason that from experiments in both methods I am much better satisfied with the re 

 sults of surface applications. From this statement it will be seen that the manure is applied 

 fresh rather than fermented. 



&quot; A slight- covering of earth is sufficient to prevent the escape of ammonia and other 

 gases, even from the rapidly fermenting compost heap; and spread in or upon the field, 

 where the process of fermentation is comparatively slow, very little is lost, in the opinion of 

 many good, practical farmers, even by top-dressing.&quot; 



Tanks for holding the liquid manure from the stables, have long been in use in many 

 portions of Europe and this country, it being conveyed to them in drains from the stables. 

 These tanks or cisterns, which are made of cement or concrete, are so constructed as to be 

 closely covered to prevent the escape of ammonia, which is produced by the fermenting pro 

 cess. This fermentation rapidly progresses in warm weather, but the loss can be retarded by 

 putting in gypsum or charcoal, which absorb the ammonia. A few days after fermentation 

 commences, the liquid is pumped into casks and carried on to the lands. When designed for 

 watering plants, it must be diluted with water to prevent injury. This process is attended 

 with considerable labor, although it may prove a good one where a large number of animals 



