TWENTIETH CHAPTER, 



FLESH AND FISH COMPOSTS. 



'T^HE OLD method of disposing of the carcasses 

 of dead horses, cattle and other larger domes- 

 tic animals, by simply hauling them to the nearest 

 woods or swamp, and leaving them there as a prey 

 to foxes, dogs, crows, buzzards, worms and natural 

 decomposition, is yet widely practiced, but neither 

 nice or wise. I think it is misfortune enough for 

 the farmer to lose a serviceable animal; it would be 

 a foolish act of extravagance for him to let the plant 

 food contained in the carcass go to waste. And 

 the amount of this plant food is not inconsiderable. 

 Suppose we have a dead horse weighing about 1200 

 pound. Nearly three quarter of this weight is 

 water; in the remaining 300 pounds of dry matter 

 we have something like 200 pounds of dry flesh, and 

 100 pounds of bone. The dry flesh contains fifteen 

 per cent of nitrogen and a small percentage each of 

 phosphoric acid and potash ; the bone contains 

 about twenty-five per cent of phosphoric acid, and 



