214 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



EXPERIMENTS WITH MANURES. 



iNDiNG the space usually al- 

 lowed to our correspondents 

 hardly sufficient at present 

 the publication of all their arti- 

 which seem to demand an im- 

 ^^tiSS^ mediate notice, we propose to place 

 ( viJeQ upon the editorial platform the fol- 

 ^ lowing interesting account of some 

 expenments made last season by our friend 

 '•W.," of Blackstone, Mass., In the home 

 manufacture of several special fertilizers, and 

 of their efifect in comparison with that of sta- 

 ble manure. 



Superphosphate of Lime. 

 Last spring he obtained about GOO pounds 

 of bone, costing, at IJc per pound, $7.50. 

 The breaking up of these bones cost $6. He 

 then purchased Hi pounds of oil of vitriol, at 

 an expense of $G.24, including freight. Making 

 the whole cost of these material $19.74. A 

 molasses hogshead was then sawed in halves, and 

 an equal quantity of the bones ^ut into each. 

 After wetting the bones with about two pails- 

 ful of water to each cask, half of the vitriol 

 was poured upon one lot, and half upon tlie 

 other, all at once. The bones, however, were 

 not as completely dissolved as could be wished, 

 and 'Mt. W. proposes in his experiments this 

 season, to put in a part of the vitriol at first, 

 and after effervescence, to add the remainder. 

 This mass of bones and vitriol was reduced so 

 that there was as much as one horse could 

 draw, but ]\Ir. W. thinks it would have 

 been better if he had made two loads of it, in- 

 stead of one. 



Muck and Mineral Composition. 

 Adopting the suggestions made by James R. 

 Nichols, M. D., in a lecture delivered before 

 the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, and 

 published in the Agriculture of Alassachusetts, 

 for 1866-7, pp. 2:32-4, Mr. W. made a com- 

 pound of muck, crude nitrate of soda, Epsom 

 salts, bone meal, salt, plaster, and wood ashes. 

 In his formula. Dr. Nichols assumed that a 

 cord of barn manure weighs 3000 pounds. Of 

 this amount, 245G pomids are water, I.'IS 

 pounds sand, and 332 pounds carbonaceous 

 matter, no more valuable than muck, peat, 

 Btraw or chaff; leaving only 74 pounds "which 

 really is all that is valuable." 



"In thii 74 pounds," says Dr. Nichols, "there is 

 the nitrogen, potash, soda, lime, magnesia, phos- 

 ,pboric acid, sulphuric acid, chlorine, iron and 



alum. In estimating the market value of these 

 substances, we may obtain the nitrogen by the 

 use of crude nitrate of soda, or sulphate of ammo- 

 nia, at a cost uf Si^.GO, the potash, soda, &c..in one 

 andone-lmU'lnishclsor'goodwood ashes, at 35 cents, 

 and liftccn pounds of common salt, ten pounds of 

 bone-dust, three pounds of gypsitm will supjily the 

 remaining constituents, at a cost of fifty cents. If 

 we estimate the carbonaceous matter at ton cents, 

 we have, as the actual cash value of all that pro- 

 motes plant-growth in 3000 pounds of barn-yard 

 manure, the sum of S3. 36. There are but few lo- 

 calities where the farmer can imrcliase manure at 

 less .than ^7-00 the cord ; and when to this we add 

 the expense of hauling and applying to tields, we 

 find there is a wide niai-gin between the cost of the 

 isolated valuable constituents of manure, and the 

 article as furnished in its natural condition. Barn- 

 yard manure may be imitated by thoroughh' com- 

 posting with a cord of seasoned meadow muck 

 sixtj'-five pounds of crude nitrate of soda, two 

 bushels of wood ashes, one peck of common salt, 

 ten pounds of fine bone meal, two quarts of plaster 

 and ten pounds of epsora salts. The cost of this 

 compost will not be over $3.50 the cord, and ought, 

 other things being equal, to serve as good purpose 

 in the field. In practical trials of this mixture I 

 have found that while it serves a most admirable 

 end, giving veiy satisfactoiy results, it does not 

 act so rapidly and energetically as manure ; but its 

 etfects are more lasting. In short, the same salts 

 and organic matter as found in the dung-heap, 

 have a higher money value, and seem to exert a 

 more specific influence upon plants than when pre- 

 sented in artificial mixtures. By substituting ni- 

 trate of potassa, or saltpetre, for soda, the compost 

 is greatly improved, while its cost is enhanced. 

 If the salts are dissolved in water, — those that are 

 soluble, — and the bone is ley, and good muck is 

 employed, a compost is formed very ncarlj' as 

 valuable as seasoned excrement. Very nearly, we 

 have said — whj' is it not of equal value ? 



We have reason to believe it is owing to a mi- 

 nuteness of the subdivision of atoms, which we can 

 1 neither produce nor comprehend, — a degree of 

 I comminution v.liich sets at defiance all mechanical 

 j and chemical manipulation. Besides this, there 

 I is, however, a peculiar condition arising from, or 

 I communicated by, the contact of vital forces, which 

 I science is incapableof explaining. Aphj^sicianonce 

 i brought to me ajar of o.x's blood, with the request 

 j that 1 would extract or isolate the metal iron there- 

 I from, and place it in his hands. In answer to in- 

 j quiries as regards its uses, he stated he wished to 

 employ it a& a thereapeutic agent under the im- 

 j pression that iron once assimulated would have a 

 I higher and more natural intiuence when passed 

 I again throug'i the animal economy, than the usual 

 forms of the metal from other sources. His hypo- 

 thesis was undoulitedlj' correct, and while it was 

 quite within the power of chemistry to isobite the 

 I iron from the Ijlood, it was impossible to secure it 

 ! in the condition in which it existed in that fluid. 

 That condition is indeed a peculiar one, and its 

 presence is not indicated by any of the usual 

 I chemical re-agents. If we applied to it simply the 

 usual manipulating processes, chemistry would 

 ' fail to show that there was an atom of iron present 

 ; in the l>lood of men or animals. This mhy illus- 

 trate the difference between the fertilizing influence 

 of metals and salts, as found in animal excre- 

 ment and as existing in other, or the usual 

 forms. The iron as found in the blood, if ad- 

 ministered to an enemic p.atient, would without 

 , douI)t immediately, and liy direct and easy pro- 

 C2SS-CS, again pass to its appropriate place, and re- 

 [ store the sanguineous fluid praniptiy to its nor- 

 ! mal condition. 



But chemistry can never furnish it in that form, 

 neither can it "supply the mineral consiinicnts re- 



