1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



141 



sorbent, that is, the best preserver of other fertili- 

 zers, that we can command. 



These points Avere elucidated. 



He thought more should be said as to the appli- 

 cation of manures, which was a point that had not 

 been sufficiently investigated. Bulk, in some in- 

 stances, is required. He made an experiment by 

 spreading coarse, fresh manure on a piece of land — 

 a dry, sandy knoll. Though manured before, plants 

 did not flourish there. After applying this coarse 

 manure, containing straw, corn-stalks, and coarse 

 grass, in a very wet heavy state, it was plowed in 

 immediatel)^, in the autumn, to the depth of six or 

 eight inches. The land was very porous and light 

 in the spring, and the field was cultivated with pars- 

 nips which gi-ew to a very great size, so great, said 

 Mr. Brown, that I think I never saw the bottom of one 

 of them. They would break off" at the bottom, they 

 ■were so long. The doctrine of applying fresh ma- 

 nure is unpopular ; but the contrary one is a popu- 

 lar error in many cases. He could show from the 

 best authorities, that much is lost by fermenting 

 manures which are to be applied to heavy lands. 

 If we wish to force a crop, the manures must be 

 well rotted and fine, but if we wish to have the ma- 

 nm'es last two or three years they should be applied 

 at once, in their coarse, unfermented state, and un- 

 der cover, where they will give off their gases to 

 the surrounding soil. There is much lost constant- 

 ly, in the yards, by the fermentation of manures. 

 In one instance, a gentleman applied coarse manure 

 upon one part of a piece of land, while upon anoth- 

 er part of the same piece he ap})licd manure of the 

 same kind, but fermented. That to which the fer- 

 mented manure was applied, did best the first year ; 

 but for the second, third and fourth, the crops were 

 altogether better where the fresh manures were ap 

 plied. Mr. Brown then quoted from Johnston's 

 Elements of Agricultural Chemistry in confirmation 

 of this doctrine. 



"When used coarse, the immediate action of ma 

 nure is not so perceptible, yet the ultimate benefit 

 to the soil, and to the crop, may be even greater, if 

 not requiring to be forced at one particular season 

 pf the year. While it is undergoing fermentation 

 in the farm-yard, or cellar, the straw loses part of 

 its substance — either in the state of gaseous mat- 

 ter, which escapes into the air — or of saline mat- 

 ter, which is washed out in liquid form. Thus, af- 

 ter complete fermentation, the quantity of matter 

 present is really less, and consequently, Avhen added 

 to the soil, though the immediate effect upon the 

 crop be greater, the tvhole effect may also be con- 

 siderably less. 



One ton of dry food and straw gives a quantity 

 of farm-yard dung which weighs 



When recent 46 to 50 \hs. 



After 6 weeks 40 to 44 lbs. 



After 8 weeks 38 to 40 lbs. 



When half rotted 30 to 3J lbs. 



When fully rotted 20 to 25 lbs. 



A part of this loss may, no doubt, be ascribed to 

 the evaporation of a portion of the water of the re- 



cent dung ; but the larger part is due to an actual 

 escape of the substance of the manure itself. The 

 farmer, therefore, who applies the manure from a 

 given weight of food and straw, 171 a fresh state, 

 adds more to his land tlian if he first allowed it to 

 become perfectly fermented. Were he to chop his 

 straw, and put it in as it comes fresh from the field, 

 he would add still more ; but its action as a manure 

 would be slower, and while it would l^eneficially 

 open stiff' and heavy soils, it would injure others, by 

 rendering them light and porous." 



Moses M. Fiske had found the value of peat or 

 meadow mud to depend altogether on the charac- 

 ter of the timber which had pre\iously grown upon 

 the land, or in the vicinity. If the previous growth 

 had been of oak or other hard wood, the muck was 

 good, but where the growth had been of pine or 

 hacmataok, it was comparatively useless, except as 

 an absorbent. He thought one shovel full applied 

 in the hill was worth five spread on the soil and 

 plowed in. He referred to the practice of the late 

 Simon Baker, who, he said, had obtained, by the 

 use of manure which had not been thrown out dai- 

 ly from the stalls, but was left for the cattle to lie 

 upon, a bushel of potatoes from ten hills, while his 

 neighbors were getting only a bushel from twenty- 

 five hills by the use of manures thrown out daily. 



Mr. Parsons, the chairman, then gave his testi- 

 mony to the valne of muck when applied to young 

 trees. He had found it equal in value to compost 

 manure. He used a little of rye straw, cut tA\ice 

 in two, for his cattle, and had no floor to his stalls, 

 and he had found the manure thus made to be verj' 

 valuable, as the liquids are thus wholly saved. 



Mr. Darling, of Boston, added further testimo- 

 ny to the value of coarse manure when ajDplied to 

 clayey soils. He believed liquid manures to be bet- 

 ter for trees than solid. 



Dr. Reynolds confirmed the view of Mr. Dar- 

 ling in reference to the application of liquid ma- 

 nures to ti'ees. A good liquid manure might be 

 obtciined by having a tank at a distance from the 

 house to receive the drain from the sink, with which 

 other manures might be mixed, or it might be ap- 

 plied to trees or vines with profit without any addi- 

 tion. 



W. J. BucKMlNSTER thought more experiments 

 were needed to learn how to apply manure proper- 

 ly, and expressed the hope that further suggestions 

 might be made on that particular subject. 



At a few minutes after nine o'clock the meeting 

 adjourned to next Tuesday evening, at seven o'clock, 

 when the discussion of the same subject will be re- 

 sumed. 



Look to your Pear Trees ! — Persons cultiva- 

 ting dwarf pears, or other low trees, shrubbery or 

 evergreens, must have an eye to them — and a 

 shovel too — when the great body of snow now ly- 

 ing on the ground, begins to thaw. It will settle 

 about the tender twigs duting tlie day, and freeze 



