56 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



compost fertilizing materials (which is not done until the materials are all broken up and 

 separated), varies according to the kind and quality of the substances used, the manner in 

 which they are treated, the degree of heat, cold, and moisture to which they are exposed, 

 etc. It is sometimes accomplished in three or four weeks, but often not under six months or 

 a year ; some writers say two years, but we think this, as a general rule, is quite too long, 

 though there may be exceptional cases where the materials used would require this length of 

 time. When made, as above described, in the fall, the composted manure will usually be 

 ready for use in the spring. 



General Grant states that when in China he was shown a piece of land which had been 

 under cultivation every year for 5,000 years without deterioration of the fertility of the soil. 

 This result is effected by returning to the soil everything taken from it. Fish constitutes a 

 large proportion of the food of the people, and offal not consumed for human food is care 

 fully applied to the soil, and fish is a great fertilizer. Even the roots of the wheat which 

 is grown to a very limited extent are taken and rotted in a compost heap and returned to 

 the soil. All the leaves and garbage are utilized in the same manner. Thus the Chinese 

 have shown us that by returning to the soil the elements extracted from it, deterioration in 

 fertility may be entirely prevented. 



Flesh, Blood, Hair, Horns, Hoofs, etCt These substances, when decomposed, 

 afford, in a condensed form, some of the most valuable fertilizing elements, such as nitrogen, 

 phosphate of lime, etc. They are not, however, always procurable by the farmer, but when 

 a loss occurs among the animals of the farm, or if the refuse of a slaughter-house can be 

 obtained and buried in a peat- bed, or rich garden mold, until a perfect decomposition has 

 taken place; or, if put into the compost pile, the fertilizing material thus obtained will well 

 repay the trouble and labor attending it. &quot;When buried, a little lime added to the pile before 

 covering will greatly quicken the process of decomposition. It is estimated that a dead cow 

 or horse thus buried and mixed with eight or ten times their weight of soil, will yield from 

 ten to fifteen loads of the richest manure. When the body is cut in pieces and mixed with 

 dry muck or loam, decomposition is hastened and a more uniform mixture produced ; but 

 this never should be done if the animal died of a virulent disease. In such a case, the 

 dead animal should be buried deep in the earth and far from any farm building, and never 

 be used as a fertilizer. The compost, in any case, should be made at a distance from the 

 house. Allen says that butchers offal will give twenty times its weight of more valuable 

 manure than any from the cattle-yard. 



Dried blood, when unadulterated, forms a valuable commercial fertilizer. Meat scraps 

 of any kind, fish-offal, shoddy, gelatine, and glue-waste are all valuable sources of nitrogen. 

 Much, however, depends upon their mechanical condition, with respect to their value, such 

 as their fineness, freedom from moisture, etc. Horns, hoofs, clippings from hides, etc., are 

 also rich in organic substances required by plants, when mingled with the soil, but must be 

 very finely pulverized to be available as fertilizers, as their naturally indestructible character 

 prevents them from decaying easily. The horns and hoofs are prepared by first steaming, 

 which renders them soft and pliable like rubber; they are then quickly dried, which makes 

 them very brittle, and are easily ground into a fine powder, which yields, on analysis, over 15 

 per cent, of nitrogen. 



Dried Blood . This fertilizer is one of the most valuable animal substances on account 

 of the nitrogen it furnishes, and its rapid formation of ammonia. The western cities supply 

 largely the markets of the country with this commodity, which has within a few years 

 become to be highly valued in the agricultural world. It is prepared for the market for 

 fertilizing purposes in the following manner: from two to four tons of fresh blood are put 

 into wooden or iron tanks of suitable size, containing double bottoms several inches apart. 

 The upper bottom is perforated with small holes and covered over with a coarse sacking to 



