468 THE DUNG OF THE ?IG AND THE SHEEP.' 



The proportion of nitrogen contained in the two njanures, according 

 to these resuhs, is so nearly ahke — be. ng in reaUty greater in the cow 

 dung — that were we to consider the above numbers to represent the 

 average constitution of the droppings of the horse and cow, Ave should 

 be compelled to ascribe the difterence in their qualities solely to the 

 different states in which the elements exist in the two, and to the pro- 

 portions of water they respectively contain. But the nature of the 

 food and other circumstances affect the quahty of these manures so 

 much (p. 470), that we cannot as yet draw any general conclusion 

 from the results obtained in one special case. 



4°. Pig''s dung is still colder and less fermentable than that o? the 

 cow. It is characterized by an exceedingly unpleasant odour, which 

 when applied to the land alone it imparts to the crops, and especially 

 to the root crops which are manured with it. Even tobacco, when 

 maimred with pig's dung, is said to be so much tainted that the leaves 

 subsequently collected are unfit for smoking [Sprengel, Lehre vom 

 Danger, p. 38.] It is a good manure for hemp and other crops not 

 intended for food, but is best employed in a state of mixture with tlie 

 other manures of the farm-yard. 



5^. Sheep^s dung is a rich dry manure, which ferments more readi- 

 ly than that of the cow, but less so than that of the horse. A speci- 

 men examined by Zierl consisted of— 



Water 68*0 per cent. 



Animal and vegetable matter 19-3 " 



Saline matter, or ash 12-7 " 



100 



The food of the sheep is more finely masticated than that of the cow, 

 and its dung contains a little less water, and is probably richer in nitro- 

 gen ; hence its more rapid fermentation. When crops are eaten off 

 by sheep, their manure is more evenly spread over the field, and is, at 

 the same time, trodden in. When thus spread it decom.poses more 

 slowly than when it is collected into heaps, and the ammonia and other 

 useful products of the decomposition are absorbed in great part by the 

 soil as they are produced. Those soils in which a considerable quan- 

 tity of vegetable m.atter is already present, are said to be most bene- 

 fitted by sheep's dung, because of the readiness wilh which they ab- 

 sorb the volatile matters it so soon begins to give off. 



Sheep's dung is said to lengthen the straw of the corn crops, and 

 to produce a grain rich in gluten — and unfit therefore for seed, for the 

 manufacture of starch, or for the purposes of the brewer and the dis- 

 tiller (Sprengel.) It may be doubted, however, whether these can as 

 yet be safely considered as the universal effects of sheep's dung upon 

 every soil, and when the animals are fed upon every kind of food. 



§ 13. Of tfie quantity of manure produced from the same kinds of 

 food by the horse, the cow, and the sheep. 



The carefully conducted experiments of Block give the following 

 as the total quantities of manure, solid and liquid, produced from 100 

 lbs. of the different kinds of food by the cow, the horse, and the sheep. 



