262 LIQUID MANURE. 



the chemist in bis most delicate analyses. In Switzerland, the urino 

 that is passed by the cattle flows along a gutter which coinmunicateij 

 with a large reservoir containing water, in which not onlv are the sol- 

 id excrements diffused, but in which the litter is washed, this being 

 changed only twice a week. The reservoir is constructed under 

 the floor of the cow-house itself, in order to be protected from the 

 frost. The fermentation of a mass so diluted is scarcely pereejiti- 

 ble, and, save from leakage, there is no loss of decomposing animal 

 matter. Tlie liquid manure is raised by means of" a pump, and car- 

 ried to the meadow in tubs placed upon carts. In Switzerland it is 

 also the usage to employ the urine of cattle separately as manure, 

 under the name of puriri ; to this liquid manure, a quantity of sul- 

 phate of iron is frequently added with the view of bringmg the volatile 

 carbonate to the state of the fixed. stjlphaie of ammonia, as I liave 

 already said. 



Liquid manures have their advantages and their inconveniences. 

 We shall immediately discuss their value comparatively with that 

 of solid manures, and we shall be led to adopt the opinion of M. Crud 

 in regard to them, viz , that the advantages ascribed to them in Switz- 

 erland are exaggerated. Whatever the form under which manures 

 are applied, the question has been warmly discussed, whether it be 

 to the interest or disadvantage of the agriculturist to emi)loy iherri 

 before or after they have undergone fermentation ? 



Organic substances, however, are in no c«)ndilion to favor the 

 growth of vegetables until they have undergone material changes 

 which modify their nature. One of the results of this change, as 

 we have seen, is the development of ammoniacal salts. Frei*li ma- 

 nure, such as It comes from the stable, intr»>duced immediately into 

 the ground, there und(^rg()es precisely the same changes, and gives 

 rise to the same products as it does when subjected to preparation in 

 a dung-heap in the manner already described ; there is only this 

 difference, that being scattered and mixed with a large quantity of 

 inert matter, the decomposition takes place much more slowly than 

 it does in the heap. The (piestion which has been so actively dis- 

 cussed, therefore, reduces iisoU' to ibis : is it advantageotis to have 

 the manure fermented in the soil it is intended to fertilize ? We 

 may be allowed to express surprise that such a question should have 

 been raised in the present day, and still more that the allirmalive 

 answer should have been disputed by agriculturists of distinguished 

 merit. Some have even gone so far as to maintain thai fresh ex- 

 crements were injurious to vegetation Proofs to the contrary are 

 readily obtained ; it is enougli to recollecr that in the grazing and 

 folding of sheep and kine, the dung and urine pass directly into tho 

 ground of our {)astures and fields, and who shall say that the land 

 is not benefited by wliat it thus receives ? I'nquestionably fresh 

 manure in excess proves injurious to vegetables, but as much may 

 be said in regard to the best-fermented dungs. 



M. (lazzeri, an Italiin chemist, has devoted himself with the 

 most laudable perseverance to inquiries haviug for their object to 

 show that the general custom of leaving manures to become da- 



