1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



65 



AVater, indeed exists around us to an extent and 

 under conditions which escape the notice of cursory 

 observers. When the dyer buys of the dry salter 

 one hundred pounds each of aUim, carbonate of soda, 

 and soap, he obtains in exchange for his money, no 

 less than forty-five pounds of water in the first lot, 

 sixty-four pounds in the second, and a variable 

 quantity, sometimes amounting to seventy-three 

 and a half pounds, in the third. Even the trans- 

 parent air we breathe contains, in ordinary weather, 

 about five grains of water diffused through each 

 culiic foot of its bulk, and thus rarified water no 

 more wets the air, than the solidified water wets the 

 lime or opal in which it is absorbed. 



For the New England Farmer. 



LIQUID MANURE. 



BY PROF. J. A. NASH. 



Liquid manuring, as first practiced by Mr. 

 Mechi, in the neighborhood of London, and Mr. 

 Littledale, near Liverpool, now beginning to be 

 imitated by other distinguished farmers in that 

 country, and perhaps by some in this, is effected by 

 the following means : 



An immense tanlc is constructed in the yard, 

 into which the solid excrements from the barn, sty, 

 fold, &c., are thrown. Into the same tank are di- 

 rected all the liquid excrements of the premises. 

 Whatever about the building can add to the fertil- 

 ity of the fields, is added ; and if purchased fertil- 

 izers, whether in the shape of dead animals from 

 the cit}', or of phosphates, guano, poudrette, &c., 

 are to be used on the farm, they are all thrown 

 together into this tank. It becomes an omnium 

 gatherum. 



A considerable stream of water — a small brook 

 in some cases, in others a collection of drainage 

 waters from the higher grounds ; or a copious 

 spring, if there be one near — is there directed upon 

 them. Water is supplied in such abundance, as to 

 com])letely neutralize the foul odors that would 

 otherwise be generated. Water, it should be un- 

 derstood, is in all cases a sufficient deodorizer, 

 provided enough of it be used. The great quan- 

 tity of the water in the tank holds the soluble mat- 

 ters of the various manures there gathered in solu- 

 tion ; and when agitated, as it should be before its 

 application to the land, holds in suspension the 

 finer soluble portions of the manures, so that it ap- 

 pears slightly colored by the soluble parts of the 

 manure, and a very little roily, by reason of the in- 

 soluble. 



Any one will see, that by this time, the quantity 

 of water has become too great to be removed by 

 any ordinary means of transportation, A smart 

 shower, lasting an hour or two, and ginng one 

 inch of water in depth, gives about 1 15 tons to the 

 acre. Such manure requires to be supplied in like 

 quantity every few days, as well while the crops are 

 growing, as in preparing the ground before hand, 

 in order to produce the best results. It is manifest, 

 therefore, that unless some very cheap mode of 

 transportation can be devised, such manure would 

 not be worth applyng. To obviate this difficulty, 

 an iron pipe, some two inches in diameter, is laid 

 fi'om the tank, below the frost and below the pos- 

 sibility of being struck by the plow, branching to 

 all parts of the farm. To this pipe hydrants are 

 attached, one to every ten or twelve acres. The 



water in the tank is forced into this pipe by a steam 

 power ; men in the different fields, with a gutta 

 percha hose, some eighty feet in length, attached 

 to a hydrant, direct a stream of the dilute liquid 

 manure high into the air, frequently fifty feet or 

 more, whence it falls, like rain, upon the growing 

 crops, not beating them down, as it would, if thrown 

 in a solid stream horizontally upon them. This is 

 an imitation of Heaven's way of fertilizing the 

 earth by means of rain, each drop of rain water 

 containing, as this manure does, a few impurities, of 

 which it has cleansed the atmosphere, in passing 

 through it, the impurities, in both cases, being im- 

 parted to the soil, as the water passes dowiaward 

 through that. 



The foregoing will give a pretty good idea of 

 liquid manuring, as practiced by the gentlemen 

 before named, on a liberal scale, and at great ex- 

 pense for the outset, but with very little, for the 

 subsequent application of the manure. Something 

 like $75 an acre is requisite for under-draining 

 the ground, procuring and laying the iron pipes, 

 constructing the tank, purchasing the engine and 

 hose, and getting the whole into full operation ; 

 but when this is done, tlie liquid manure can be 

 distributed on any part of the farm, remote as well 

 as near, for only a few mills per ton. Let it be kept 

 in mind, that this liquid manure, being greatly di- 

 luted, Uttle differing from rain water slightly roiled, 

 distributes its insoluble parts evenly over the sur- 

 face, where, under the action of sun and air, they 

 soon become soluble and fit food for plants, thus 

 giving an advantage, with regard to them, over be- 

 ing plowed under, where they might remain a long 

 time inert ; while the soluble parts are imparted to 

 the soil at some depth below the surface, as the wa- 

 ter penetrates downwards, varying according to the 

 quantity applied at once. If applied often, and 

 little at a time, the effect terminates near the surface ; 

 but if applied in very large quantities, it extends 

 farther downward. Mr. jtlechi says, he wants his 

 soil manured all the way from the surface to three 

 feet below ; that the roots of crops will go as low 

 as there is prepared food for them ; and that liquid 

 manuring is the only means of tempting the roots 

 downward among inexhaustible supplies of earth- 

 food for plants. We are not to infer from this, 

 that he would advocate the plowing in of manures 

 verj- deeply. That is a different matter. If you 

 were to bury soUd manure three feet under ground, 

 you might about as well sink it three miles ; for in 

 either case it would bo excluded from air, would 

 not ferment, but would remain in a condition un- 

 available to the plant ; whereas, in the case of li- 

 quid manure, it is already in a state to be seized 

 up and appropriated to the growth of plants. As 

 some men, who would not swallow pure alcohol, 

 will imbibe it pretty freely, when mixed with three 

 or four times its bulk of water ; so plants will re- 

 coil from their own a])propriate food, if too strong, 

 when they will drink it in like topers, if dissolved 

 and well diluted. We often speak of the food of 

 plants; and yet plants do not eat; they only drink; 

 and it must be admitted that they are not fond of 

 strong drink. 



The advantages of liquid manuring seem to be, 

 that it is capable of providing pabulum for crops, 

 in the right state — that of a weak solution ; at the 

 right time — just when the plant requires it; and in 

 the best manner — as regards the depth it is to pen- 

 etrate the soil ; and it gives the farmer great power 



