656 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



TNo.ll 



dent the greater state of solution in which the, ma 

 nure is, the more easily will the plant be enabled 

 to derive benefit from it. This point is finely illus 

 trated by the quicker efficacy of liquid than solid 

 manure in nourishing the plant, when both areap 

 plied in equal strength. Now, if there is no way 

 of making manure soluble but by fermentation, it 

 is also evident a great degree of fermentation will 

 dissolve all the fibrous portions of putrescent ma- 

 nures the more easily. This point is also well il- 

 lustrated by a fermented dunghill, the materials of 

 which, if properly commixed, will ferment strong- 

 ly for a time, and then the fermentation will sub- 

 side to a low degree, leaving the whole mass in 

 that pulpy, sappy state, than which nothing can 

 give a better idea of a soluble state of a fibrous bo- 

 dy. Whether any really nutritive matter is driven 

 off by fermentation before the mass is brought to 

 that pulpy state, may be doubted; for the evapo- 

 ration from such a dunghill appears to be just the 

 steam of water in a highly elastic state, glimmer- 

 ing like a hot haze in a sunny day, on looking 

 across a ploughed field. But even should some 

 gaseous matter escape during fermentation, this 

 undeniable fact remains untouched — that this fer- 

 mented, pulpy, sappy mass of manure will go 

 much farther in maintaining the fertility of land 

 than the same bulk, or weight, of recent farm- 

 yard manure.'* 



On the latter point we think there can be no ra- 



tional doubt; for it is very generally allowed that 

 an equal quantity of short muck, or that which has 

 been merely reduced to the state of spit-dung, ia 

 more immediately effectual as manure to the pre- 

 sent crop: but the question still remains to be de- 

 cided — whether the same amount of substance, if 

 laid upon the land previous to its diminution by 

 the loss of fluid and of gaseous matter, has not a 

 more lasting effect on the improvement of the soil? 

 It can only be determined by long experience upon 

 different soils, seasons, climates, crops, and ro- 

 tations; and we agree with Mr. Finlayson that, 

 'in order to make a fair trial, it might not be un- 

 worthy of the agriculturist's pains to place, for ex- 

 ample, a ton of fresh dung in a favorable situation 

 for fermentation; to turn it over once or twice; 

 and when rotted down to the bulk, weight, and 

 consistency thought most expedient, or usually al- 

 lowed, to put it and a ton of fresh dung of the 

 same sort on equal spaces of very poor land, and 

 weigh the produce of the three following crops; 

 by which means the matter would soon be set at 

 rest, and, with the majority of farmers, a greater 

 uniformity observed in the management of this di- 

 vision of their business.'* We accordingly ex- 

 tract a comparative experiment made by an intel- 

 "igent practical tanner on three kinds of manure, 

 and on a cultivated soil without manure — half a 

 rood of ground being allowed for each: — as fol- 

 ows: — 



Successive crops and produce from a single application of thefollowing Quantities, viz: — 



1st crop, Turnips, 

 2nd crop, Barley, 

 3rd crop, Clover, 

 4th crop, Oats, 



Fresh stable-dung 

 in a straw state, 

 3 tons. 

 Per acre. 



18 cwt. 6st, 6 lbs. 

 30 bush. 2 pks. 

 20 cwt. 

 38 bush. 



Rotten dung;, 



8 months old, 



2 tons. 



Per acre. 



16 cwt. 1st. 4 lbs. 

 36 bush. 3 pks. 

 21 cwt, 

 40 bush. 



Dry barley-straw, 



burnt on the around, 



15 cwt. 



Per acre. 



1. 3st. 71b/ 

 30 bush. 1 pk 

 18 cwt. 

 18 bush. 



i. 1 pk. 



i. 



No manure. 



Per acre. 

 1st. 8 lbs. 

 14 bush. 3pk. 

 8 cwt. 

 32 bush. 



As to the feed after the clover, it was about 

 equal to the expense of getting in each crop re- 

 spectively, with a small surplus on the plot ma- 

 nured with rotten dung. 



To complete this experiment, there should, how- 

 ever, have been a notice added of the proportion 

 of weight which fresh stable-dung would lose 

 within eight months; for three tons would scarce- 

 ly, at the expiration of that time, amount to more 

 than half that quantity of completely rotted dung; 

 though when farm-yard manure is reduced one- 

 third in weight, the fermentation may be, in most 

 cases, considered as far enough advanced for the 

 general purposes of agriculture. Supposing the 

 original quantities to have been equal, the above 

 experiment wouldbe, in every part of the rotation, 

 in favor of rotted dung, with the exception of the 

 inferiority of the turnip crop, which, in this in- 

 stance, remarkably contradicts the practice of its 

 application; though, without more clear informa- 

 tion regarding the soil, the culture, and the wea- 

 ther no positive conclusion can be drawn from that 

 fact.j 



* Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. xix. page 

 82. 



t See a very able inquiry into Sir Humphry Davy's 

 theory in a treatise on soils and manures, Anon., p. 

 146. 



In his remarks upon the formation of dung- 

 heaps, Sir Humphry justly observes — 'that an im- 

 measurable quantity of substance disposed for con- 

 version into food for plants is suffered to escape in 

 the form of drainings and vapor. During the vio- 

 lent fermentation which is necessary for reducing 

 larm-yard manure to the state in which it is called 

 "short muck,' 1 '' not only a large quantity of fluid, 

 but likewise of gaseous matter, is lost; so much 

 so, that the dung is reduced oue-hallj and from 

 that to two-thirds or more, in weight. Now, the 

 principal elastic matter disengaged is carbonic 

 acid, with some ammonia; and both these, if at- 

 tracted by the moisture in a soil, and retained in 

 combination with it, are capable of becoming nu- 

 triment.' Reasoning on which, he says — 'that, 

 within the last seven years, Mr. Coke has entirely 

 iriven up the system of applying fermented dung; 

 and he informs me, that his crops have been as 

 good as ever they were, and that his manure goes 

 nearly twice as far.' He then sums up his argu- 

 ments with directions for the management of pu- 

 trescent manure, in the following terms: — 



'Where farm-yard dung cannot be immediately 

 applied, ihe destructive fermentation of it should 



* British Fanner and Ploughman's Guide, 2nd edit., 

 p. 68. 





