AGRICULTURE. 



and use. The valne of farm-yard and stable 

 manures consists mainly in the progressed in- 

 organic matter they contain, and in the state of 

 division in which that matter exists, and not, 

 as many suppose, in the amount of nitrogen 

 or ammonia they contain ; for the valne of am- 

 monia consists, not in being a food for plants, but 

 in its ability to give to water the power of dis- 

 solving new portions of the soil itself, passing it 

 through the proper chemical changes to fit it 

 for plants. It is doubtful if any plant ever re- 

 ceived, through its roots, any of the constitu- 

 ents of ammonia ; and it is only to this func- 

 tion of ammonia that the farmer need look for 

 any advantage from its use. 



If his soil be fairly arable, from former use, 

 and be thoroughly underdrained, and subsoil- 

 ploughed, containing a full share of progressed 

 inorganic food for plants, he will find no bene- 

 fit from the application of ammonia in any 

 form; for soils so prepared will receive all 

 they require of nitrogenous matters from the 

 atmosphere, as they will be continuously con- 

 densing from that source moisture charged 

 with gases. We freely admit that on badly- 

 prepared soils, merely surface-ploughed, and pre- 

 senting so slight a depth of soil to atmospheric 

 influences that the necessary quantity of nitro- 

 gen cannot be received, it is necessary to in- 

 crease the solvent power of the moisture they 

 contain so as to secure the solution of a suffi- 

 cient amount of inorganic pabulum to sustain 

 crops; but the real'value of every manure, 

 so far as furnishing the constituents of plants is 

 concerned, is due not only to the amount of in- 

 organic food which it contains, but to its condition 

 or state of progression, and not to the amount 

 of nitrogen combined therewith in any form. 



The best cultivators do not use open barn- 

 yards as the receptacle of manures, but the 

 manures of the farm are removed daily to ad- 

 jacent manure-sheds, where the compost is 

 placed on and above the surface of the ground, 

 with a drainage cistern at the lower end of the 

 shed, furnished with a pump, so that the fluid 

 drainage of the manure heap may be thrown 

 from the cistern on top of the mass, and by its 

 downward filtration through the compost sup- 

 ply moisture and convey the soluble portions 

 to the inert parts, causing continuous ferment- 

 ation without excessive heat, preventing fire- 

 fanging, and insuring 1 entire disintegration, de- 

 stroying weed seeds, and breaking up organic 

 forms of all kinds, so that the mass may be- 

 come homogeneous without the labor or ex- 

 pense of turning by forking, etc. All the fluids 

 of the stables, house, etc., may be carried by 

 gutters to this cistern, the compost heap may 

 be supplied with muck, meadow mud, head- 

 lands, weeds, and all waste materials of the 

 farm, and by the continued and repeated infil- 

 tration of the soluble portion through all other 

 parts, the admixture will become more perfect 

 than by any other method : the occasional ad- 

 dition of sulphuric acid to this cistern will con- 

 vert all the volatile products of decomposition 



into sulphates which are non-volatile, thus 

 preventing evaporation, malaria, etc. 



Special fertilizers which are soluble may be 

 thrown into the cistern, and so find their way 

 through the mass, and, with it, to the fields. 



"When the drainage is insufficient to supply 

 the necessary amount of moisture, water may 

 be passed into the cistern, and when fluid ma- 

 nures are called for to be used on the farm, they 

 may be taken from this reservoir, and distrib- 

 uted by a sprinkling-cart. 



"With such an arrangement all kinds of farm 

 manures may be thoroughly combined, secur- 

 ing such chemical changes as will do away with 

 the disadvantages consequent upon their sepa- 

 rate use, such as the unfavorable influence of 

 hog-manure, when used alone upon the brassica 

 tribe of plants, clump-rooting cabbages, giving 

 ambury, or fingers and toes, to turnips, etc. 

 The manure of the hen-house should frequently 

 be added to the compost heap, so as to be more 

 evenly divided through it. 



The pump with which the cistern is supplied 

 may be moved by a small wind-mill, placed 

 above the shed, causing the changes to be con- 

 tinuous by the downward filtration through the 

 mass followed by the atmosphere. 



The value of manure so prepared, diluted 

 with many times its bulk of waste organic 

 matter, such as muck, leaves from the woods, 

 woods-earth, etc., is greater per cord after fer- 

 mentation than that of the pure manure kept 

 in an open barn-yard, while the quantity will 

 be materially greater, no loss by washing or 

 evaporation having occurred. "When potash is 

 required by the soil, it may be added in the 

 form of wood-ashes, and other special amend- 

 ments, in solution or otherwise. These will 

 not only find their way to the field, but white 

 in the compost heap will furnish chemical ac- 

 tion for the decomposition of all other portions, 

 securing at the same time their own dissemina- 

 tion throughout the mass. So much for farm- 

 yard manures ; but who can produce so large a 

 quantity of such manures (whatever may be 

 the extent of his stables) as may be used on 

 his land with increased profit ? "We claim that 

 no farmer or stock-breeder can do so, and when, 

 under these circumstances, the farmer has the 

 means of farming more profitably, he must of 

 necessity become the buyer of fertilizers ; there 

 are but few localities where farm and stable 

 manures can be purchased; those manures 

 made upon the farm itself may be used with 

 profit, but if they are to be carted from a dis- 

 tance, the transportation will generally render 

 them more costly than other fertilizers. Fac- 

 tory wastes of various kinds frequently may be 

 purchased at less cost near towns and cities. 

 Night-soil, also, may be used with advantage. 

 Peruvian guano contains many of-the constitu- 

 ents required by crops, and when properly 

 treated before use is an admirable manure : it 

 should be finely ground and mixe/1 with some 

 divider, such as charcoal dust, woods-earth, or 

 even the ordinary soil of the farm, and should 



