134 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



hill, gives dense fumes, it is a certain lest that ilie 

 decomposition is goiny too far, Cor this indicates 

 that volatile alkali is diseiigaijed. 



" When dung is to be preserved for any time, 

 the situation in which it is kepi is of importance. 

 It should, if possible, be delended from the sun. 

 To preserve it under sheds would be of great use ; 

 or to make the site oi" a dunghill on liie north side 

 ofa wall. The floor on which the dung is heaped 

 should, if possible, be paved with flat stones, and 

 there should be a little inclination from each side 

 towards the centre, in which there should be 

 drains, connected with a small well furnished with 

 a pump, by which any fluid matter may be col- 

 lected tor the use of the land. It too often hap- 

 pens that a dense mucilaginous and extractive 

 fluid is suffered to drain away from the dunghill so 

 as to be entirely lost to the farmer." 



The urine of animals is one of the most valua- 

 ble manures that can be applied to land; but it 

 should be applied in a recent state, as a great por- 

 tion of the soluble animal matter it contains is de- 

 stroyed during the process of putrefaction. If un- 

 mixed with solid matter, it should always be di- 

 luted with water, as in its pure state it contains 

 more animal matter than can be safely absorbed for 

 the nourishment of plants. 



According to some writers and practical farm- 

 ers,* the value of the urine of cattle, if properly 

 preserved and applied to the purposes of vegeta- 

 tion, is greater than that of all the dung which 

 the same animals would yield. A letter from 

 Charles Alexander, near Peebles, in Scotland, 

 addressed to Sir John Sinclair, in 1S12, contains 

 much valuable information on this subject. '-This 

 intelligent farmer had long been impressed with 

 the great importance of the urine of cattle as a 

 manure, and he set about to discover, by a lontr 

 and well-conducted series of experiments, the hest 

 method of collecting and applying it. He began 

 by digging a pit contiaiuous to the feeding stable, 

 but distinct altogether from that which was ap- 

 propriated for the reception of the dung. The 

 dimensions of this pit were thirty-six feet square, 

 and fiDur (eet deep, surrounded on all sides by a 

 wall, and the solid contents were one himdred and 

 ninety-two yards. Having selected the nearest 

 spot where he could find loamy earth — and this 

 he always took from the surtace of some field un- 

 der cultivation — he proceeded to fill it, and found 

 that, with three men and ten horses, he could 

 easily accomplish twenty-eight cubic yards a day ; 

 and the whole expense of transporting the earth 

 did not exceed twenty-two dollars. When the 

 work was complete, he leveled the surface of the 

 heap in a line with the sewer which conducted 

 the urine from the interior of the building, on pur- 

 pose that it might be distributed with regularity, 

 and might saturate the whole from top to bottom. 

 The quantity conveyed to it, he estimated at about 

 eight hundred callons. The urine was supplied 

 by fourteen cattle, kept there for five months on 

 fodder and turnips. The contents of the pit pro- 

 duced two hundred and eighty-eight loads, allow- 

 ing two cubic yards to be taken out in three carts ; 

 and he spread (briy of these on each acre, so that 

 this urine in five months produced a compost suf- 

 ficient for the fertilization of seven acres of land. 

 He states farther, that he had tried this expert- 



* Vide Complete Farmer, p. 175—177. 



ment for ten years, and had used indiscriminately 

 in the same field either the rotted cow-dung or the 

 saturated earth ; and in all stages of the crop he 

 had never been able to find any precepiible differ- 

 ence. But what is still more wonderful, he found 

 his compost lasted in its effects as many years as 

 his best manures ; and he therefore boldly avers 

 that a load of each is of equivalent value. JVlr. 

 Robert Smith, of Baltimore, has his stat>les con- 

 structed in such a luanner that all the liquid dis- 

 charges of his cattle are conducted, together with 

 the wash of the barn-yard, into a cistern, pumped 

 into a hogshead, and applied in a lifjuid state to 

 the soil which it is wished to manure. This mode 

 of making use of this substance, is likewise re- 

 commended in the Code of Agriculture : — " The 

 advantages of irrigating grass lands with cow 

 urine almost exceed belief^ Mr. Harley, pf Glas- 

 gow, (who keeps a large dairy in that town,) by 

 using cow urine, cuts some small fields of grasa 

 six times, and the averaije of each cutting is fif- 

 teen inches in length. There are disadvantages, 

 however, connected with this mode of applying 

 this powerllil manure. It must be applied soon 

 after it is formed, or oftentimes the putrefactive 

 process will commence and deprive it of part of 

 its efficacy. And, as urine is of a scorching qua- 

 lity, it is unsafe to apply it to growing crops in 

 great heat or drought. Hence it is unadvisable to 

 use it except for grass, after the months of April 

 and May, unless diluted. It is particularly useful 

 in the spring, when the application of liquid ma- 

 nure gives a new impetus to the plant and makes 

 its growth more vigorous. This n)anure forces 

 newly planted cabbages in a most remarkable 

 manner."' 



BEET SUGAR IN EUROPE. 



As a source of wealth, profit, and general be- 

 nefit to the agricultural interests of the country the 

 cultivation of the sugar-beet, either for the purpose 

 of making sugar, or feeding stock, is most unques- 

 tionably entitled to the attention of every agricul- 

 turist and philanthropist in the country. 



When in the sugar districts of France, a few 

 years since, the writer became so much interested 

 in this subject, that he has ever since watched its 

 progress, not only in that country, but throughout 

 Europe, with increasing interest, and with the 

 hope of seeing it, long ere this, introduced into this 

 country. At the time of his visit to France, four 

 or five per cent, was the maximum yield ol" sugar 

 from the beet, and with this yield, it was consider- 

 ed an excellent business. Since that time, so 

 much improvement has been made in its manu- 

 facture, that 7 or 8 per cent, is now readily obtained, 

 and in some cases as high as nine. The writer 

 has lately been shown a letter from M. Crespei 

 of Arras, one of the largest manufacturers in 

 France, which states that at 07ie of his establish- 

 ments, (and he is interested in eight or nine,) he 

 will make 1000 hogsheads of sugar the present 

 season, and this at a cost of less than 5 cents per 

 pound. 



David Lee Child, Esq. who has spent eighteen 

 months among the sugar manufactories in France, 

 Belirium and Germany, in a work on this subject 

 which he has recently published in Boston, esti- 

 mates the quantity of beet-sugar nianuiiictured in 



