120 OF FERTILIZERS. 



390. A valuable liquid manure is formed by mixing 

 with the liquid from the manure heap any other rich sub 

 stances with a large quantity of water, which is to be 

 poured by means of the sprinkling cart upon growing 

 crops. 



It can be applied, advantageously, to those fields which 

 are already rich enough in humus or mould, as one great 

 benefit of the application of manures in a solid form is to 

 furnish a permanent reservoir for moisture, carbonic acid, 

 and ammonia, and other elements of the food of plants 

 capable of being dissolved in water or of being absorbed 

 by decayed vegetables, and kept ready for the use of 

 plants. 



391. What is the most valuable of all manures, the 

 statement of a few facts will enable you to judge. The 

 principal object in view in the cultivation of all cereal 

 plants, all leguminous vegetables, all fruits and nearly all 

 roots, is, directly or indirectly, to furnish food for man. 

 Most of the animals which he has domesticated, the sheep, 

 the ox, the swine, all kinds of domestic fowls, the birds 

 shot by the fowler and the fishes caught by the fisherman, 

 are intended to supply his table. Now, of all these sub 

 stances, vegetable, fish, flesh and fowl, which enter into 

 the human system as food or as drink, for the supply of 

 man s wants or as luxuries, all, except the little which is 

 used to build up and to renew his body, is thrown away 

 and is usually lost. 



392. Chemical analysis entirely confirms the conclusions 

 of common sense in this matter. The body itself, as is 

 well known, is continually changing; its substance is 

 becoming effete and its elements are constantly renewed. 

 Chemical analysis shows that all the substances which 

 have been enumerated as the elements of plants, all the 



