DUNG 



DURIO 



From the experiments of M. Schubler and others, the 

 relative value of night-soil is as follows : 



" If a given quantity of the land sown without manure 

 yields three times the seed employed, then the same 

 quantity of land will produce five times the quantity 

 sown when manured with old herbage, putrid grass or 

 leaves, garden stuff, &c. ; seven tunes with cow-dung, 

 nine times with pigeon's-dung, ten times with horse-dung, 

 twelve times with human urine, twelve times with goat's- 

 dung, twelve times with sheep's-dung, and fourteen 

 times with human manure or bullock's blood. But if 

 the land be of such quality as to produce without manure 

 five times the sown quantity, then the horse-dung manure 

 will yield fourteen, and human manure nineteen and 

 two-thirds the sown quantity." 



Fowl-dung, if composed partly of that of the duck, 

 which is a gross feeder, is nearly equal to guanc. This 

 and that of the pigeon contain much ammonia, and all 

 abound in phosphate of lime, mixed with decomposing 

 organic matters and uric acid, all highly valuable as 

 fertilisers. 



Stable or Farm-yard Dung is usually composed of the 

 following matters : Horse-urine. Water and mucus, 94 ; 

 carbonate of lime, i.i ; carbonate of soda, 0.9 ; hippu- 

 rate of soda, 2.4 ; chloride of potassium, 0.9 ; urea, 0.7. 

 But besides the above, it contains common salt, phos- 

 phate of lime, and sulphate of soda. Cow-urine. Water, 

 66 ; phosphate of lime, 3 ; chloride of potassium, and 

 sal-ammoniac, 15 ; sulphate of potash, 6 ; carbonate of 

 potash and carbonate of ammonia, 4 ; urea, 4. 



One thousand parts of dry wheat-straw being burnt, 

 yielded M. Saussure forty-eight parts of ashes ; the same 

 quantity of the dry straw of barley yielded forty-two 

 parts of ashes. The portion dissipated by the fire would 

 be principally carbon (charcoal), carburetted hydrogen 

 gas, and water ; one hundred parts of these ashes are 

 composed of Various soluble salts, principally carbonate 

 and sulphate of potash, 22\ ; phosphate of lime (earthy 

 salt of bones), 6J ; chalk (carbonate of lime), i ; silica 

 (flint), 6iJ ; metallic oxide (principally iron), i ; loss, 

 7f ths. The straw of barley contains the same ingredients, 

 only in rather different proportions. 



The solid excrements of a horse fed on hay, oats, and 

 straw, contain, according to the analysis of M. Zierl, in 

 loco parts. Water, 698 ; picromel and salts, 20 ; bilious 

 and extractive matter, 17 ; green matter, albumen, 

 mucus, &c., 63 ; vegetable fibre and remains of food, 202. 



These, when burnt, yielded to the same chemist sixty 

 parts by weight of ashes, which were composed of 

 Carbonate, sulphate, and muriate of soda, 5 ; carbonate 

 and phosphate of lime, 9 ; silica, 46. Jour. Roy. Agr. 

 Soc.^vol. i. p. 489. 



There have been many arguments and much difference 

 of opinion among cultivators with regard to the advantage 

 of employing dung in a fresh or in a putrid state, and, 

 as is too often the case, both parties have run into ex- 

 tremes the one side contending for the propriety of 

 employing it quite fresh from the farmyard, the other 

 contending that it cannot well be top decayed. 



The mode employed by Lord Leicester is the medium 

 between these equally erroneous extremes. He found 

 that the employment of the fresh dung certainly made 

 the dung go much farther, but then a multitude of the 

 seeds of various weeds were carried on to the land along 

 with the manure. He has therefore since used his 

 compost when only in a half -putrefied state (called 

 short dung by farmers), and hence the seeds are destroyed 

 by the effects of the putrefaction, and the dung still 

 extends much farther than if suffered to remain until 

 quite putrefied. Putrefaction cannot go on without the 

 presence of moisture. Where water is entirely absent, 

 there can be no putrefaction ; and hence many farmers 

 have adopted the practice of pumping the drainage of 

 their farmyards over their dung-heaps ; others in- 

 variably place them in a low, damp situation. This 

 liquid portion cannot be too highly valued by the culti- 

 vator. The soil where a dunghill has lain in a field is 

 always distinguished by a rank luxuriance in the succeed- 

 ing crop, even if the earth beneath to the depth of six 

 inches is removed and spread with the dunghill. 



Guano. This now celebrated manure has been known 

 as the chief fertiliser employed by the Peruvians, almost 

 as long as that part of the New World has been recog- 

 nised by geographers. Its name, in the language of that 

 country, signifies the manure ; and it merits such dis- 



tinction as being one of the most powerful assistants to 

 vegetation which can be applied to the soil. Guano is 

 not peculiar to Peru, but is found in immense beds upon 

 many rocks and islands of the Atlantic, being the excre- 

 ments of the marine birds frequenting those ocean 

 solitudes. It has been lately analysed by Dr. Ure, who 

 reports it as composed of the following proportional 

 constituents : Azotised organic matter, including urate 

 of ammonia, and capable of affording from 8 to 17 per 

 cent, of ammonia by slow decomposition in the soil, 

 50.0 ; water, n.o ; phosphate of lime, 25.0 ; ammonia, 

 phosphate of magnesia, phosphate of ammonia, and 

 oxalate of ammonia, containing from 4 to 9 per cent, of 

 ammonia, 13.0 ; siliceous matter, t.o. 



This analysis explains the source from whence failure 

 has been derived to many who have tried it. It is the 

 most violently stimulating of all the known natural 

 manures, and they have applied it too abundantly. 

 This is shown by the experiments of Mr. Maund. When 

 applied to Strawberries once a week hi a liquid state (four 

 ounces to a gallon), it made them very vigorous and 

 productive ; but sprinkled upon some young seedlings 

 of the same fruit, it killed them. Two ounces per yard 

 (five cwt. per acre) were sprinkled over Onions, and they 

 doubled the untreated hi size. Potatoes, manured with 

 one ounce and a half per yard, were rendered much more 

 luxuriant than others having no guano. Brussels Sprouts 

 were half destroyed by being planted in immediate 

 contact with nine parts earth and one part guano. 

 Geraniums were greatly injured by liquid-manure of 

 guano (four ounces per gallon), but " plants of various 

 sorts, hi pots, watered only with guano-water, half an 

 ounce to a gallon, have flourished astonishingly ; none 

 have failed. These are lessons which cannot be mis- 

 taken." Auctorium, 223. Mr. Rendle and other persons 

 record, as the result of dearly-purchased experience, that 

 where guano has failed to be beneficial, or has been 

 injurious, it has been applied in quantities too powerful 

 for the plants to bear. In a liquid state, half an ounce 

 per gallon, and given to growing plants once a week, it 

 never fails to be productive of vigour. When sown as. a 

 top-dressing, it should be mixed with five times its 

 weight of dry earth, ashes, &c., and then scattered as 

 thinly as possible. When used as a top-dressing for a 

 flower-pot, a small pinch between the thumb and two 

 fingers will be sufficient. 



Cow-dung, for potting purposes, should be collected 

 whilst fresh, kept under a dry shed, be frequently turned 

 over, and used when in a dry, loose condition. Two 

 years' old dung is best. 



DURA'NTA. (Named after C. Durantes, a physician 

 and botanist. Nat. ord. Verbenas [Verbenacea?]. Linn. 

 i4-Didynamia, 2-Angiospermia.) 



Stove evergreen shrubs, with blue flowers. Cuttings 

 in sand, under a bell-glass, in bottom-heat ; loam and 

 peat. Summer temp., 60 to 80 ; winter, 45 to 55*. 



D. arge'ntea (silvery). 6. E. Ind. 1824. 

 ,, brachy'poda (short-stalked). Country unknown. 

 denta'ta (toothed). See D. PLUMIERI. 

 Elli'sia (Ellis's). See D. PLUMIERI. 

 ine'rmis (unarmed). See D. PLUMIERI. 

 macroca'rpa (large-fruited). 6. Mexico. 1818. 

 microphy'Ua (small-leaved). See D. PLUMIERI. 

 Muti'sii (Mutis's). 6. W. Ind. 1820. 

 Plumie'ri (Plumier's). 15. October. S. Amer. 



173.3. 



a'lba (white). White. Fruit amber. 1888. 

 ,, stenosta'chya (narrow-spiked). Country unknown. 

 triaca'ntha (three-spined). Peru. 

 turbina'ta (top-shaped). Country unknown. 

 xalape'nsis (Xalapa). See D. PLUMIERI. 



DU'RIO. (From Duryon, the Malay name of the fruit, 

 " one of the most delicious productions of nature." Nat. 

 ord. Malvads [Malvaceae]. Linn. i&-Polyadelphia, i-De- 

 candria. Allied to Cheirostemon.) 



In a putrid state the fruit is used as a bait to trap the 

 civet-cat : hence the specific name. Stove evergreen 

 tree. Cuttings of firm young shoots in spring, in sand, 

 in a close case with bottom-heat ; peat, loam, and 

 leaf-mould. Summer temp., 60 to 80 ; winter, 50 

 to 55. 

 D. Zibethi'nus (civet). 60. White. E. Ind. 1825. 



