LOSS OF LiaUID MANURi N THE FARM-YARD. 465 



aloncj and with the addition of an equal bulk of v;ater, the urine of 

 the cow loses, as we have seen, a considerable proportion of volatile 

 matter, and in these several states will yield in a year — 



Solid matter. Yielding of ammonia. 



Recent urine 900 lbs. 226 lbs. 



Mixed with water, after 6 weeks. . 850 " 200 " 



Unmixed, after 6 weeks 550 " 30 " 



Those who scrupulously collect in tanks and preserve the hquid ma- 

 nure of their stables, cow-houses, and fold-yards, will see, from the 

 great loss which it undergoes by natural fermentation, the propriety 

 of occasio'iially washing out their cow-houses vi ith water, and, by thus 

 diluting the liquid of their tanks, of preserving the immediately 

 operating constituents of their hquid manure from escaping into the 

 air. Even when thus diluted it is desirable to convey it on to the 

 land without much loss of time, since even in this state there is a con- 

 stant slow escape, by which its value is daily diminished. Gypsum, 

 sulphate of iron, and sulphuric acid, are, by some, added for the pur- 

 pose o^ Jixmg tiie ammonia, but in addition to diluting it, an admix- 

 ture of rich vegetable soil, and especially of peat, will be much more 

 economical, and — except in so far as the gypsum or sulphuric acid 

 themselves act as manures — nearly as effectual. 



But these remarks apply only to the liquid manure when collected. 

 How much larger a waste is incurred by those who make no effort to 

 collect the urine of their cow-houses or stables ! The recent urine of 

 one cow is valued in Flanders — where liquid manures are highly es- 

 teemed^ — at 40s. a year. It contains on an average, as we have seen, 

 900 lbs. of solid matter, and this estimated at the price of guano only, 

 is worth at present £4 sterling. Multiply this by 8 miUions, the num- 

 ber of cattle said to exist in Uie United Kingdom, and we have 32 mil- 

 lions of pounds sterling, as the value of the urine, supposing it to be 

 worth no more than the foreign guano. It is impossible to estimate 

 how much of this runs to waste, but 1-lOth of it will amount to nearly 

 as much as the whole income-tax recently laid upon the country. The 

 practical farmer who uses every effort to collect and preserve the ma- 

 nure which nature puts within his reach, is deserving of praise when 

 he expends his money in the purchase of manures brought from a dis- 

 tance, of whatever kind they may be ; but he, on the other hand, is 

 only open to censure who puts far ward the purchase of foreign ma- 

 nures as an excuse for the neglect of those which are running to 

 waste around him. Let every stock farmer, with the help of the 

 facts above stated, make a fair calculation of what is lost to himself 

 and to the country by the hitherto unheeded waste of the urine of 

 his cattle, and he will be able clearly to appreciate the importance of 

 taking some steps for preserving it in future. 



suit obtained by Sprencel. The milk did not contain nitrogen sufficient to yield more than 

 45 lbs. of ammonia, and this, .-idded to the 35 lbs. makes only 80 Iba. in all — whereas 

 Sprenspl gives 230 lbs. as the q'lantity which recent urine is capable of yielding. This re- 

 markable (iitference must be ascribed either to an actual loss of volatile mtitter by the urine 

 analysed by Boussin^aiilt. or— which is more probable— to a difference in theqiiality of the 

 food on wliich the two animals were fed. 



' The Messr.a. Turnbull inform me that with this sulphated urine, tinder the incorrect 

 name of sulphate (f ammonia, the experiments of Mr. Burnet were made (p. 362), as well 

 as those of Mr. Fleming and Mr. Alexander, detailed in the Appendix. 



