74 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



pact heaps, so as to expose as little surface as pos- 

 sible to the falling rain; to this end the manure 

 collected in cow yards, leeding pens, &c., should 

 occasionally be thrown inio heaps in the Ibrm of 

 a stack, mingling therewith, during the process, a 

 due proportion of gypsum. A siiil I'uriher pre- 

 caution might be used, by removing the manure, 

 as soon as it is in a fit condiiion, to the fields for 

 which it is destined, and there spread. This 

 would check any remaining disposition to fer- 

 ment, and the falling rains would carry the 

 ammonia down into the soil, with which it would 

 combine, and thus all danger of further loss, 

 to any considerable extent, would be avoid- 

 ed. From what has been said, it will be seen 

 that manure is liable to great loss during the pro- 

 cess of fermentation, unless the utmost care is 

 used to prevent the escape of ammonia. If ma- 

 nure is suffered to undergo complete decomposi- 

 tion, there wiil be a considerable saving of labor 

 in hauling and spreading, and much less diffii'uity 

 in ploughing the ground on which it is distributed, 

 but there will be more or less loss of some of the 

 most valuable ingredients of the manure. If the 

 proper precautions are used to prevent the escape 

 of ammonia, perhaps upon the whole, it will be 

 Ibund most advantageous id suffer the manure to 

 undergo at least a partial decomposition, before 

 it is removed to the fields for which it is intended. 

 But, notwithstanding every precauiion that can be 

 used in preserving and applying putrescent ma- 

 nures, some loss will be sustained. Ammonia 

 readily enters into combination with carbonic 

 acid, forming a volatile compound, and is itself, 

 while in a gaseous form, wi'.h all its volatile 

 compounds, exiremely soluble in water.* And 

 hence every particle of water evaporating from a 

 dung heap will carry with it ammonia and car- 

 bonic acid, unless they shall have been converted 

 into a salt, which is not volatile. Alumina (clay) 

 exercises an indirect influence on vegetation, by 

 its power of attracting and retaining water and 

 ammonia. ''t Liebig informs us, that " a part 

 only of the carbonate of ammonia which is con- 

 veyed by rain to the soil is received by plants, 

 because a certain part of it is volatilized witii 

 the vapor of water." But if the soil c'ontains a 

 due proportion of gypsum, or when deficient 

 in this respect, if it should be supplied from time to 

 time with gypsum, " the carbonate of ammonia, 

 contained in rain water,' (and of course that 

 which is carried down into the soil by rains, fiill- 

 ingon putrescent manures) " is decomposed by 

 gypsum, in precisely the same manner as id the 

 manufacture of sal-ammoniac. Soluble sulphate 

 of ammonia -and carbonate of lime are formed ; 

 and this salt of ammonia, possessing no vola- 

 tility, is consequently retained in tlie soil. All 

 the gypsum gradually disappears, but its action 

 upon the carbonate of ammonia continues as long 

 as a trace of it exi8ls."J It will be observed li-om 

 the reasoning of Liebig, that the ammonia which 

 the soil receives during the decomposition of long 

 manure, which may be left or spread on the 

 ground, is also liable to sustain a loss by combin- 

 ing with watef and passing off" in the form of 

 Tapor. But as in this case, the process of fer- 

 mentation is very slow, the carbonate of ammonia 



• Liebig's Organic Ghemistry, p. 130. \ lb. 191. 

 $Ib. 141, 142. 



will have more time to combine with the soil, and 

 the roots of plants are constantly engaged in 

 absorbing it. During slow fermentation there 

 is probably but little loss ofcarbonate of ammonia, 

 even when gypsum is not present, and when pre- 

 sent none at all. 



So far, therefore, as the products of the soil, 

 which are not useluMbr the consumption of man 

 or beast, can be left o:i the ground, that will be 

 the most economical application of manure. In 

 this mode of applying ii, the labor of transporting 

 and distributing it will be saved, and much less 

 loss will be sustained by evajioration than where 

 the decomposition is rapid, and no gypsum used. 

 Thus it will be advantageous to leave upon the 

 ground as much of the stubble of wheat., rye, &c., 

 as can be left consistently with an economical 

 saving of the grain. With the same view corn 

 stalks may be left on the ground and ploughed in. 

 Tlie straw of rye and oats, fed off' to stock, and 

 .of the second crop of clover when liill}' ripe, will 

 also be of great advantage to the soil. All these 

 will undergo slow ftjrmentation, and if not frutl'er- 

 ed to be washed away by heavy rains from roll- 

 ing lands, will add much curbonaie of ammonia 

 and some poiaeh to ilie soil. Liebig informs us, 

 that "ammonia, evolved (rom manure, is imbibed 

 by the soil, either in solution in water, or in the 

 gaseous (brm, and plants thus receive a larger 

 supply of nitrogen than is afforded them by the 

 atmosphere."* Indian corn, as well as rye and 

 oais, is sometimes fed off by turning slock in the 

 field. In this mode of ftjeding the whole product 

 of the soil is restored, and the land must necessa- 

 rily be enriched, in proportion to the quanliiy of 

 nourishing ingredien's, which the growing crop 

 received from ihe atmosphere, (always a large 

 proportion,) with such abatement only as will be 

 equal to the loss of ammonia, sustained by evapo- 

 ration. 



In the remarks I have hitherto made on ma- 

 nures, 1 have not referred to one species, which 

 Liebig considers of very great value, I allude to 

 human excrements. This subject is treated very 

 much at large, in the work to which I have so 

 often referred, but it would extend this essay to 

 too great a length to go fully into an examination 

 of this very important ingredient. A few extracts 

 will be, sufficient to show its importance. At 

 p. 242 he remarks, " that if we admit that the 

 liquid and solid excrements of man, amount on 

 an average to Ij^ lbs. daily, (5-4 lb. urine and 

 ^ lb. Itcces,) and that both taken together con- 

 tain 3 per cent, of nitrogen, then in one year they 

 will amount to 547 lbs. which contain 16.41 lbs. 

 of nitroiren, a quantity sufficient to yield the ni- 

 trogen of 800 lbs. of wheat, rye, oats, or of 900 

 lbs. of barley." 



" This (he observes) is much more than is 

 necessary to add to an acre of land, in order to 

 obtain with the assistance of nitrogen absorbed 

 from the atmosphere, the richest possible crop 

 every year. Every town and farm might thus 

 supply itself with the manure, which besides 

 containing the most nitrogen, contains also the 

 most phosphates ; and If an alternation of crops 

 were adopted, they would be most abundant. By 

 using at the same time, bones and the lixiviated 

 ashes of wood, the excrements of animals might 



* Liebig's Organic Chemistry, 141. 



