THE FARMKRS' REOrSTER. 



715 



ihe boiliiitr does not reniovc. Exf)eritnenl8 in 

 Europe, liuve shown lliat the did'erence in cil' ct 

 upon ihe suil bf.iwoen thoPt- ih;\i hiivc been boiled 

 and tl>ose that have not is very sninM. 



In Kngiiind ihey are lound uselui, p:\rliculiuly 

 on light soil?. Some Ciiend.'?, whoj-e eyes have 

 gazed upon fields of old Etigliind, tell us ihat 

 light soils ihere niiiihl be called heavy hero. Con- 

 sequently liones niny be Ibund hcneiiciii! vviili us 

 upon the srreater portion of the hmd ihai wi; cul- 

 tivate. Experiment alone can deterniitie. 



How can farmers turn unbroken hones to good 

 account? In one ol'the back imml)ers uf our pa- 

 per is an article Irom one who subscribe? himsell 

 " A Mechanic," which gave us a valuable pug- 

 geslion, and which ntay be acted upon by every 

 (atniiy. According to our recollection this mecha- 

 nic remembered Ihat his mother, when she made 

 soap, put bones in the leach — atul thai the action 

 ol' the ashes softened and almost consumed tlie 

 bones. AJiuht not a tight bo.x or tub be prociu-ed 

 wltich mittht be set in tJie ground, in'o which 

 bones, and ashes, and waier could l)e pur from 

 lime to time, and thus the boues be eaten up. If 

 60, and we believe they might, then the Iwo or 

 three bushels of matter that could he taken Ir^m 

 ihis tub once or twice a year, would be Ibund an 

 exceedingly valuable addition to a compost heap 

 of 20 or 30 loads. Two bushels of boni s thus di- 

 gested would probat)iy lurnish as much phosphaie 

 of lime as the rula bagas on an acre of land 

 would require ; and this crop requires more ihan 

 any other. 



ON SAVING LIQUID MAKUKK. 



By Mr. Matthew Marmaduke Milburn, Thorpefudd, 

 Thiisk, Yorkshire. 



It is an unaccountable circumstance, that vvhi!e 

 many thousands of pounds ate- yearly expended 

 by the agriculturists of Great Britain in the pur- 

 chase of artificial and extraneous manures, so lit- 

 tle attention is paid to the collecting, preparing, 

 and using of that which ia always within then- 

 reach. There can be little doubt, that, in one 

 shape or another, as much available manure i.=; 

 actually wasted and lost, as would have, ifappiied 

 to the land, have an effect equal to the whole of 

 the lime, bones, rape-dust, &c., which are an- 

 nually purchased. 



With very lew exceptions, tlie generality ol 

 farmers allow the wiiole of the urine made by 

 their stock, the drainage of the Ibld-yards, and 

 the liquid from the mixens, [dung- hills, J to run 

 down some sewer and enrich the rank grass arrd 

 weeds which it approaches, or run into some dis- 

 tant river. 



The writer of this report had his attention di- 

 rected 10 the utility of liquid manure from the fol- 

 lowing circumstance : — The liquid from the (old- 

 yard — which by the way was originally a quad- 

 rangular court-yard, is entirely paved, and lies 

 rather high — ran (or several years down an open 

 drain belonging to an adjoining neighbor. For a 

 considerable period the sewer was not cleaned 

 out, and in consequence of the yard-drains being 

 partly blocked up, permission was asked to clean 

 out the sewer. The contents, alter being allowed 

 to dry, were put upon a light, poor, sandy anil, as 



a dressing for autumnal sown lares. The conse- 

 quence was, that though the soil had grown, 

 comparatively, nothing lor a long time, such a 

 crop of tares was obtained as is seldom witnessed. 

 The same piece was sown wiih tares the lollow- 

 iiig year,— contrary, it will perhaps be said, to 

 good farming, — and another bcauiilul crop was 

 ul)tained. Indeed the power of the sewer clear- 

 ings seemed to be double that of lermented farm- 

 yaid manure; and peculiarly adapted to promote 

 tiu: lull devclopemenl and vigorous vegetation of 

 iht> f)lan's. 



The next object of the writer was lo save a 

 poriion af least ol" this ferlilizing niixture, and he 

 determined upon the consiruclion of a lank lo 

 colled a maiiure so valuable. There were one 

 or two slight difficulties to encounter, — first Ihe 

 situation of the farmstead was a dead level, and 

 contmued to be so fur several hundred yards from 

 tiie premises; and, in the next place, the soil and 

 subsoil were exceedingly porous, and at some 

 depth springy. These ditliculiies were, however, 

 overcome, and a liiil year's experience of the 

 elii-cis of the ap[)Iication has been had. 



in order to methodize, he will tieat separately 

 ofihenaiure ol'the liquid manure, of the mode 

 ol its application, of the elFecis produced, and of 

 the construction of tanks and other receptabies lor 

 saving it. 



The liquid manure which Ihe writer has ap- 

 plied coneisis of the drainage from the cow-house, 

 calf-house, pig-cot, and lold-yard. Grates are 

 placed in the different places whence it is derived, 

 and under-drains lo convey the liquor to the lank. 

 The cows are principally store animals, fed on 

 lurnips, wiih a little hay at night; the calves are 

 ! led on turnips, linseed-cake, or porridge and hay ; 

 j ihe [jigs are lattening ones, fed priiici()ally on 

 barley-meal ; and the lold-yard has in it the dung 

 from every kind of slock : besides, a (ew stoie 

 cattle and pigs are kepi in it. The dung is mix- 

 ed indiscriminately, and remains a lew weeks 

 previously lo its being carted to the mixen. The 

 lold-yard is open lo the weather, and as the ham- 

 mels and some of the larm-buildings are not 

 spouted, a great quantity of the soluble parts of 

 the dung and decomj^osed straw passes off with 

 Ihe drainage. The writer is noi sure whether 

 this is as rich as the urine and such parts of the 

 dung as it carries in solution from the interior of 

 ihe buildings ; but it is a valuable manure which 

 would otherwise be lost, and, were it not in any 

 way applied to the land, would be entirely wasted. 

 Complaints have been made of the close drains 

 slopping up vvitli residuum. Mine are perfectly 

 open. Slopping arises either Irom the under 

 drains not having sufficient fall, or from the tank 

 not being empiied as soon as it is full. 



Ilia dry season, of course, less d.'-ainage pro- 

 ceeds from Ihe lold-yard, but it makes no differ- 

 ence as respecis the "drainage Iron) the buildings ; 

 and in Ihe latter ca.se the fermeniation ol the 

 liquid manure [)roceeds much more rapidly than 

 when there is more drainage from the lold-yard. 



When the len)perature is not too low, a white 

 creamy fluid covers the surface of Ihe liquor in 

 the tank, and a black sediment subsides lo the 

 bottom. This indicates the incipient fermentation 

 of the liquid, and adds much to its efficacy. 



When the quantity of rain which falls ia very 

 greai, ihe tank is soon filled ; and of course must 



