380 USE OF LIQUID MANURES. 



nature, are used, lime will be useful in causing their 

 rapid decay. When these are well fermented, the heap 

 should be thrown over, and if made long and narrow, 

 so as to expose the greater surface to the air, it will be 

 the better. 



The value of a compost, properly made, is greater 

 than the aggregate value of the several ingredients ap- 

 plied separately, no matter what or how rich they may 

 be. Besides, some divisor is needed for concentrated 

 or other powerful manures, by means of which they 

 may be more evenly and judiciously applied. Peat, or 

 dry meadow muck, is one of the best and most available 

 of these divisors, if properly prepared by exposure to 

 the influence of air and frost. No good farmer would 

 ever use lime in compost with barn-yard manure or 

 animal substances, unless peat muck, gypsum, or char- 

 coal, were largely used in the same mixture. 



Animals fed on rich food make far the most valuable 

 manure. This will serve, in part, to show why the 

 manure from the sty is so fertilizing. Swine are fed 

 on a great variety of rich food. The actual profit of 

 raising them arises mainly from the amount of sub- 

 stances they will mix together and make into good 

 manure. If the sty be supplied, at intervals, with mud, 

 loam, and other vegetable matter, the farmer will not 

 complain of the cost of these animals. 



Liquid manures are highly useful to grasses. Care 

 should be taken to apply them, also, to the compost 

 heap. The richness of manure from the sty is due to 

 the quantity of liquid matter it contains. Hence the 

 importance of adding a great variety of vegetable sub- 

 stances, loam, and mud. In a word, it may be said that 

 all liquid manures contain a large amount of nitrogen, 

 which is one principal ingredient of ammonia, to which 

 we have alluded. The importance of saving the liquid 



