i^I)c JTavmcr's iUoutl)li) l)iiiitcii-. 



37 



of wliicli to Ills cultivated fields, is not I'uly an 

 indispensable pre-ifMiiiisite to their increased f'er- 

 tililj, hut the eeitaiii liarbinger if coupled with 

 economy, of competence at least, if not of atHu- 

 ence. 



Definilion of Manure. 

 Manure is a tei-fn of almost indimited applica- 

 tion — emliraciiii; an immense luimher and varie- 

 ty of substances — includinjr indeeil, whatever can 

 be named in the animal, vegetable and mineral 

 kinirdoms capable ofiniprovini; and fertilizing 

 the soil. Says the author of British llusband|-y, 

 "Anything whatever may be called inanure, 

 which, when applied to the soil, rectifies its de- 

 fects, corrects any bad (piality, or either slimil- 

 lates it to yield or stores it with iintriiuent." — 

 Any class of so heterogeneous a mass of sub- 

 stances whioh should at once prove salisfiictory 

 to tlie agrioultuial chemist, anil intelligible to the 

 merely practical furmei-, cannot, in the present 

 stale of agricultural science, be attempted with 

 any prospect of success. A [iraclicul classifica- 

 tion alone, however, would seem to he called for 

 on the present occasion, and that which is regard- 

 ed as the simplest will be chosen.. 

 Classification of Man ures. 

 From the earliest speculations on the nature 

 of manin-es, down to a very recent period, ma- 

 luues have been divided into two classes, nutri- 

 tive and stimidative, or such as furiush the direct 

 food of plants, and those which act as stiujulauts, 

 or excite to take up and assimilate such kinds of 

 food as is presented to them. In the first class 

 have been placed all decayed and vegetable mat- 

 ter, farm-yard manures, animal excrements, night- 

 soil, and such other matiejs as havijig been de- 

 rived from, are considered as capable of being 

 re-coiiverted into vegeta!)le matter. Iji the sec- 

 ond class it has been the custom to place gypsum, 

 lime, such salts as aie (bund to produce a tavor- 

 able effect on vegetation, as the phosphates of 

 lime in bones, and the intrates existing in salt- 

 petre, soda, &c. Albany Cultivator, ^'ol. 8, p. 

 yS. To these may be added a third class, con- 

 sisting of variable mixtures from the two former 

 with several kinds of earlli, and denominated 

 composts. Thus we have the sim|)le classifica- 

 tion of all the manures into 1st Xutrilive Manures, 

 Qd, Stimulative Manures, and '.id, Composts. 

 .Yiitrilire Manures. 

 The great depositories of the manures of this 

 class are the barn-yard, the piggery, auil the priiy 

 vaidt — each of which will claim our attention, 

 lor a moment, in relation to the causes which op- 

 erate to diminish the amoimt and value of their 

 coiilents. 



Catisfs of Waste. 

 How, then, are the contents of these deposito- 

 ries chiefiy liable to waste ? We answer, 1st. 

 By infllration, or soaking away into the earth ; 

 2d. By evaporation, or being taken up by the sim 

 and wintis; 3d. By excessive /fn/ieii/n/jo)!, in 

 which the heaps accumulate so great a degree 

 of heat as to dissolve the salts uhicli they con- 

 tain and dissipate them in the form of gaseous 

 exhalatiojis : anil 4lh, by drainage, or flowing 

 away in the currents of water which are sufi^ered 

 but too often to despoil our barn-yards of their 

 richest treasiu-es, and to defile ourhighways and 

 elog up om- ditches with tliat which migljt'oiher- 

 wise latteii our corn-fields. 



Remedy for Drninage. 

 To close eftectual'ly' the last named vvastegale, 

 it is oidy necessary to excavate the centraTpor- 

 lions of the yard as to foi'm a stifiici^'nl reservoir 

 for the liipnds lh;it will naturally find their way 

 into it, and carefidly cojivey away the droppings 

 from the roofs of the buildings by good conduc't- 

 or,:, and to tm-ii the coujse of any superfluous 

 waters from higher groimds, by effective trenches. 

 Remedies for Itfdtralion and Evaporation. 

 To guard agaii)st infiltration, let the yard, and 

 especially the excavated portions of itj receive a 

 Ihoriiugh coating (if nature has not been before- 

 hand ill su|ipl\iiig one,) of the purest clay atcom- 

 iiiand : and te escape the mischiefs ol' evapora- 

 tion, furnish it with an abundance of litter, such 

 as refuse straw, oris, weeds, and leaves fiom the 

 forest, together with muck, surlitce-soil from the 

 road sides, hedges and ditches, or any otliei' con- 

 venient mailers of a porous nature, to absorb the 

 hquids, and protect the whole mass from the 

 influences of the aliiiosphere. A further seciiri- 

 ly will still be found in occasionally strewing the 

 yard with plaster, which, by combining with the 



volatile portions of the inamrre and converting 

 them into salts not volatile, will rob the atmos- 

 phere of its prey. 



Remedy for Fermentation. 

 Having taken the above precautions, little dan- 

 ger need bea[iprehiMided from excessive ferment- 

 ation, except in case of (-onsiderable piles of 

 horse-dung; and here it will be very easy to avejt 

 the evil, either by occasionally S|)readiiig open the 

 heaps, OI-, what is far better, by inlerlardiiig them 

 at projier intervals, with muck, or surface-soil, 

 which will not only efli-ct the object in (|uestion, 

 but, absorbing the juices of the pile, become of 

 equal value \\ ilh the dung. 



Value of Liquid Manure. 

 It will readily be perceived that the principal 

 effort of the liirmer, in the preservalion of his 

 manures, must be directed to their /i^ttiV/ portions 

 — lliese portions not only being by far the most 

 exposed to loss, but jiossessing a superiority in 

 value ivhich renders their loss irreparable. This last 

 sentiment, involving as it does a subject of vital 

 interest in agriculture, we shall take the liberty 

 of illuslraling by the introduction of several au- 

 thorities. 



"The greatest value should be attached to the 

 liipiid excrements of man and animals when a 

 manure is desired which shall sii|)ply nitrogen to 

 the soil. The greatest jiart of'a superabundant 

 crop, or, in other worils, the increase of gjowlh 

 which is in our power, can be obtained exclusive- 

 ly by their means. When it is considered that 

 with every pound of ammonia that escapes, a loss 

 of sixty pounds of com is sustained, and that 

 with every pound of urine a pound <d" wheat 

 might be produced, the difference with which 

 these lii|uid excrements are regarded is quite in- 

 comprehensible. In most places only the solid 

 exciements impregnated with the liquid are used, 

 and the dmtg-hills containing these are protected 

 neither from evaporation nor from rain. The 

 solid excremenls contain the insoliilile, the liquids 

 all the soluble phosphates, and the latter contain 

 likewise all the potash which existed as organic 

 salt in the plants consumed fiy the animal." — Lie- 

 big\s Organic Chemistry, p. li)l. 



" Liquid manure consists in a great degree of 

 the urine of various animals, which during its 

 decomposition, exhales a larger quantity of am- 

 monia than any other species of excrement. — 

 Now all kinds of corn contain nitrogen, and con- 

 sequently any manure which yields a ready sup- 

 ply of ammonia, must cause a fuller develope- 

 ment of those parts of the plants w liich arc of 

 the greatest use to man. Even llie kind of ani- 

 mal manure usually employed in Ibis country 

 owes its efficacy, so far as it is dependent on the 

 ammonia present, to the urine, rather than to the 

 solid excrement, of which it is made up, and 

 hence becoiries materially deteriorated in this 

 resjiect, when the more liquid portions are al- 

 lowed to drain off" from it." — Duubfs Lectures on 

 Agriculture. 



"The quantity of liquid manure produced by 

 one cow annualh', is equal to fertilizing \^ acres 

 of ground, [iroducing eftciUs as durable as do 

 the solid evacuations. A cordof loatu, saturated 

 with urine, is equal to a cord ol' the best rolleil 

 dung. If the liquid and solid evacuations, in- 

 cluding the litter, are kept separate, and soaking 

 up the liquid by loam, it has been found they will 

 manure land, in proportion by bulk of 7 liquid 



manure is wasted."— G;ai/'s Elements of Agricul- 

 ture, p. .jO'2. 



" Upon nearly all our farms the dung of tpiad- 

 I'upeds is exposed to the open air, w ithoui the 

 protection of a shed, as soon as it is removed 

 from the slables ; and is thus washetf by the 

 rains, which carry off all the salts, urine, and so- 

 liibli! juices, and form at the foot of the mass a 

 rivulet of blackish fluid, which is either wholly 

 evaporated o|- lost in the ground. In pioporlioii 

 as fermentation advances, new soluble combina- 

 tions are formed, so that all the nutritive and 

 stimulating principles of the dung gradually dis- 

 appear, till there remain only some weak por- 

 tions of the manure, iutiM-iniugled with stalks of 

 straw which have lost all their goodness." — Cliap- 

 tal's Agricultural Chem. p. 'm. 



A J'aluablc Hint. 

 "To remedy as much as possible an abuse so 

 injurious to agriculture, it is necessajy at least 

 to dig a deep dit<-li to receive all the juices which 

 flow from the ilungbill, in order that they may be 

 used in the spring upon the corn or grass lands ; 

 or that they may be preserved to water the grass 

 lands with, after the first mowing. A large cask 

 fixed upon a small cai t, ami w hicli can be filled 

 by means of a hand pump, is sufficient for this 

 purpose. Beneath the tap of the cask must be 

 fitted a narrow chest about four feet long, with 

 the bottom pierced with holes, through which 

 the liquor may be scattered. This mode of wa- 

 tering, when used after mowing, produces won- 

 derfiil effects upon the crop of the following year." 

 — lb. 



An Erpcrimenl. 

 In confirmation of the statement last quoted 

 the writer may be permitted lo notice an experi- 

 ment with liquid manure made by himself din- 

 ing the past yeai-. Some 150 gallons of liquitl 

 were dipped in the month of October, from an 

 excavation beneath his horse-stable, -iind evenly 

 distributed over a small area (perhaps 20 square 

 rods,) of old meadow land, the soil a stiff" clay 

 loam, on which but little grass had grown for 

 fiiiir or five years. When that area was mowed, 

 about the first of August last, it was judged to 

 yield at the rate of at least thi'ee tons lo the acre ! 



10 solid, while their actual value is as 2 to l. — 



One hundred pounds of cow's urine affi)r<l 2.1 

 lbs. of the most pouerfid salts which have ever 

 been used by liirmers. The simple statement, 

 then, ill figures, of the difference in value of the 

 solid and liquid evacuations of a cow, should im- 

 press upon all the importance of saving ihe last 

 in preference to the first." — Daiia's Muck Manual, 

 p. 171. 



" Urine is always a mosi valuable manure. No 

 farmer should permit it to run to waste, but should 

 so prepare his cattle-yard by loam or swamp 

 muck, and by plaster, as to save these invaluable 

 products of liis stables, and of his own dwelling. 

 As the urine is commonly mixed with the solid 

 excrements in the barn-cellar or cattle-yard, it 

 increases the value of ibis manure, it promotes 

 its decay, and adds its own salts ; but if the whole 

 is exposed to the influence of atmospheric agents, 

 it facilitates their action, and aids in depreciating 

 its value ; hence it is gc'iii'ially u holly lost to the 

 fiirm. Farmers ought to know lliis, and to In- 

 apprized of the fact, thatat least one-half of their 



an increase of certainly not less than five lo one, 

 and attributable to no other assignable cause than 

 that dressing of liquid manure, of which too a 

 considerable portion must have been made of 

 water. 



.Management of our Stables. 

 From fuels like the above, we should be ipiick 

 lo gather lessons of wisdom ; not lessons of 

 knowledge merely, (for they may be profitless,) 

 but lessons of that practical wisdom, which not 

 only comprehends and appreciates what is good, 

 but employs the best means of its attainment. — 

 Let our stables receive a just share of attention : 

 let the ground beneath them be shaped as to con- 

 duct the urine which falls upon it, direcily lo the 

 common reservoir in the yard ; or let it be exca- 

 vated in a pi ope r form and supplied with suitable 

 absorbents; or let ihe floors he made tight, so 

 that the urine can be taken up by Ihe litter, or 

 conveyed by gutters lo the yard, and there can 

 be no question that at least one-third will be an- 

 nually added to the value of our slock manures. 

 Where any of the impioved machines lor that 

 purpose are in use, the expense of cutting the 

 straw intended for liller will be more than repaid, 

 by the greater e;ise with which the floors maybe 

 cleaned, especially in winter, by Ihe greater 

 amount of liquid it will absorb, and by the great- 

 ei- facility and evenness with which the manure 

 may he spread in tlie spring. Dry powdered 

 muck ;iud loam, stored under cover foi' that pur- 

 pose, may also be highly recommended for free 

 use in the stables, as being well adapted lo pre- 

 vent ihe waste of the liquids tlieie, and .also to 

 the escape of the juices and gases frcmi the 

 heajis as they are formeil wilhout. And last, 

 not least, an occasional sprinkling of plaster over 

 floors will not only preserve siicli .salts as would 

 otherwise lie lost liy exhalation, bin at the same 

 time greatly contribute to the sweetness of ilie 

 slables. 



.Merits of this Systcjn. 

 It is not imagined that the system now indica- 

 ted for the preservation of our barn-yard manures 

 is a perfect one, securing all ;idvanlages desirable 

 lo be secured. It does not wholly protect the 

 manures from the wasting action of the atnios- 

 jilierc, iior from liability to loss by infiltration and 



