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Vol. XVIII, Second Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., JANUARY, ISf)?. 



No. 1. 



BAEN-YARD MAIIURE. 



"" When a plant is burned, the four organic elements, 

 oxyge", hydrogen, nitr. 'gen, and carbon are driven off 

 into the air, while the ten inorganic elements are left 

 as ashes. Consumption by an animal has been fre- 

 ([uently compared to this burning process, and to a 

 certain extent the analogy holds true. It has been 

 supposed, by some at least, that the organic elements 

 of the food passed into the atmosphere in the form of 

 breath, perspiration, &c., while the inorganic, or a.shes, 

 were voided in the solid excrements. This, however, 

 is true only in part, and gives but a faint idea of the 

 actual process of nutrition. It is true that one half 

 the organic matter of the food is given off by respi- 

 ration, &c., but it is not an integral half None of 

 the nitrogen of the food is e.xhaled in the breath, or 

 given off through the pores of the skin. It is only 

 the digestible hydrogen and carbon of the food which 

 are burned in the lungs and thrown off from the body 

 in the form of vratcr and carbonic acid. The greater 

 part of the nitrogen of the food is found in the urine, 

 •while the undiirested carbon compounds, (woody fibre. 

 &c.,) are voided, in conjunction with the inorganic 

 dements, in the dung. 



Leaving out of the question mechanical action, the 

 composition of the food afTords a true criterion of tlie 

 composition and value of the manure. If clover 

 plowed in would be good manure, clover passed 

 through the body of an animal would be equally 

 good; if straw plowed in is of little value, manure 

 made by animals eating nothing but straw will be no 

 better. Hog and hor^e manures are known to be of 

 more value than cow and sheep manures. They are 

 so because hogs and horses live on richer food, and 

 or no other reason. A cow or a sheep would make 

 is good manure as hogs or horses if both were fed on 

 .he same food and other things were equal. 



It is important to ascertain, therefore, what foods 

 make the richest raonure. There are many conflict- 

 ing opinions on this point, which our space will not 

 allow us to examine. We believe that the valve of 

 manure tvill be in ■proportion to the amount of nitro- 

 gen the food contains. There cannot be a rational 

 doubt on this point It is well known that clover is 

 cf more value as manure than straw; this is because 

 clover contains more nitrogen than straw. Practical 

 farmers know that manure made by animals eating 

 oil cake and peas is worth more than that made by 

 animals eating nothing but turnips or hay, and this is 

 because oil cake and peas contain such a large quan- 

 tity of nitrogeii. Blood, woolen rags, horn shavings, 



leather, hair and the carcasses of animals, arc all 

 known to be the best of fertili^cers. They are so, 

 simply because they contain such a large amount of 

 nitrogen. In fact, we know of no substance contaiu- 

 ing much nitrogen, but what practical farmers con- 

 sider, without knowing why, of great value as manui-e. 

 The value of Per-ivian guuno is always estimated by 

 the quantity of nitrogen it contains. The more in- 

 telligent dealers, before purchasing, always have the 

 per centage of nitrogen determined in various cargoes, 

 and buy that which contains the most. On this point' 

 the late Prof. Norton says that during his stay in 

 P^dinbur^h, samples from more than 500 cargoes ot 

 guano were analyzed in the labratory of Prof Johx- 

 STON, and were sold by his analyses, fluctuating ia 

 price as they indicate" more or less nitrogen. " Had 

 there been any mistaive," he justly observes, "in thia 

 method of estimating value, experience would soon 

 have detected it." 



As nitrogen is such an important element of fertil- 

 ity, we may be justified in giving some account of its 

 action and characteristics. In its elementary state, 

 it i^ always a ga,s. It forms 78 per cent, of atmos- 

 pheric air, acting simply as a dilutent to oxygen. It 

 is inhaled and respired from the lungs without the 

 least change, and is not taken up by plants in its ele- 

 mentary state. M. ViLi.E, indeed has published the 

 results of careful experiments which indicate that 

 plants have the power of taking up nitrogen,, but the 

 bulk of the evidence on this point is against him. It 

 is an indispensable ingredient in all animal and vege- 

 table life. Nothing that possesses organization or 

 vitality, whether animal or vegetable, can be formed 

 without it. 



As plants or animals cannot take their nitrogen as 

 such, fiom earth or air, it follows that it must undergo 

 some chemical change previous to its entrance into 

 organic life. This change is the conversion of unor- 

 ganized nitrogen into ammonia. This takes place 

 under certain well known circumstances, but the op- 

 eration is so slow and so limited, that it must have 

 taken indefinite ages to form all the ammonia and 

 products resulting from it at pref«nt existing on the 

 earth — unless ammonia was created as such. But, 

 whether this was or was not the case, is of little im- 

 portance. We kno(v that nitrogen is organized, and 

 that by the decay of all o vanic bodies their nitrogen 

 is converted into ammonia — and that this ammonia 

 is taken up by plants and again becomes organized 

 nitrogen. 



Ammonia is always formed by the nltimate decay 

 or combustion of a nitrogenous substance, 14 pounds 



