64 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



ized peat ; and as the second floor is meant merely as a filter, 

 we have it lower on one side than the other, by which means, 

 in the course of a day or two, the carbonized peat is left 

 comparatively dry. The water having passed off at the 

 lower side, the first or fermenting floor is again filled as be- 

 fore, and the contents of the second floor, if considered satu- 

 rated enough, are then shovelled up into a corner, and al- 

 lowed to dry till used, which may be either immediately, or 

 at the end of twenty years, as scarcely anything will effect 

 it, if not exposed to the continued washing of pure water, or 

 exposed to the influence of the roots of growing plants. By 

 being thinly spread on a granary floor, it soon becomes per- 

 fectly dry, and suited to pass through drill machines. 



The mixing of the carbonized peat with the liquid ma- 

 nure, on the first or fermenting floor, is for laying hold of the 

 gaseous matters, as they escape during the fermentation ; 

 perhaps other substances may secure these more effectually, 

 but none so cheaply. By this plan, a great many desiderata 

 are at once obtained. You get free of over 900 parts out of 

 every 1,000 of the weight and bulk of manure, by the ex- 

 pulsion of the water ; while at the same time, all the fer- 

 tilizing properties contained in it, are combined with light, 

 cleanly, and portable materials, and possessed of the peculiar 

 property of holding together the most volatile substances, till 

 gradually called forth by the exigencies of the growing 

 plants. Lastly, you get free of the tank, hogshead, and 

 watering cart, with all its appendages, and are no more 

 bothered with overflowing tank, or overfermented liquid, 

 with weather unsuited to its application. You have merely 

 to shovel past the saturated charcoal, and shovel in a little 

 fresh, and the process goes on again, while the prepared 

 peat lies ready for all crops, all seasons and all times." 



Value of Liquid Manures. The urine voided from a 

 single cow, is considered worth $10 per annum, in Flanders, 

 where agricultural practice has reached a high state of ad- 

 vancement. It furnishes 900 Ibs. of solid matter, and at the 

 price of $50 per ton, for which guano is frequently sold, the 

 urine of a cow for one year is worth $20. And yet eco- 

 nomical farmers will continue to waste urine and buy 

 guano! "The urine of a cow for a year will manure 1| 

 acres of land, and is more valuable than its dung, in the ratio 

 by bulk, of seven to six ; and in real value as two to one." 

 (Dana ) How important, then, that every particle of it be 

 carefully husbanded for the crops. 



