CHAPTER VI 



MANURES AND COMMERCIAL FERTILIZERS 



THE term "manure'^ is generally understood to 

 mean the manure obtained from domestic ani- 

 mals. But in the consideration of manures we 

 will not use the word in so limited a sense, for there are 

 numerous materials of a manurial nature that are not 

 artificial manufactures like the commercial fertilizers. 

 The muck and peat from swamps, when properly piled 

 and composted with lime and ashes, make a valuable 

 manure, and the sewage from cities is frequently con- 

 densed into what is known as sludge, which has a very 

 considerable manurial value. Farmers who are located 

 near the ocean can get a large supply of seaweed which 

 is blown on the beaches in storms, and which has a very 

 good manurial value in itself, but is also valuable when 

 dried as a bedding material for domestic animals and an 

 absorbent of the manure. We have already noted the 

 manurial value of the ashes from hard woods, and it is 

 important that all these should be carefully saved and 

 kept from the weather on every farm. Coal ashes are 

 commonly considered of no value. But we have found 

 that they are quite valuable on heavy clay soils as a means 

 for the improvement of its physical character. They are 

 also very retentive of moisture and help in this way in the 

 soil. The ashes of cotton-seed hulls are among the very 



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