378 



Cob Meal. — Preparing JVight-Soil. 



Vol. V. 



For Ihe Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Cob Meal. 



Mr. Editor, — On a late visit to a friend, 

 I saw in his barn about two hundred bushels 

 of cobs of corn ! How long will it be before 

 we are brought to understand " the nature of 

 things, and perceive their fitness?" here we 

 are, giving our stock clean corn-meal mixed 

 with wheat-bran, and throwing aside the cobs 

 for fuel, or for nothing, although they have 

 been found of three or four times the value 

 of bran, for the purpose of mixing with the 

 meal; a perfectly natural mixture, made 

 without extra labour, or expense, adding 

 about one-half to the quantity of our means 

 of feeding, saving the labour of shelling, and 

 the cost of bran ! the cob being suitable as 

 food for hogs, as for any other species of 

 stock, and even for poultry. And when the 

 importance of cooking food for our animals 

 is as well understood, and as universally prac- 

 tised, as cooking for ourselves, we shall find 

 that there are many ways in which a farmer 

 can make up for a deficiency in the gUxte of 

 the markets — which all at present so feeling- 

 ly deplore — without going back to the burn- 

 ing of pine knots to save candles ! Suppose 

 each bushel of ground corn-cobs to be worth 

 but \2h cents, what an addition will they 

 prove to the fodder of our corn-crop, and our 

 resources in a long and trying winter ! Many 

 farmers grow six or eight hundred bushels of 

 corn, and supposing that the cob is equal in 

 bulk to half that quantity, here are no less 

 than three or four hundred bushels of fodder 

 additional, procured without labour or ex- 

 pense of any kind, save only the very small 

 charge for grinding. Every mill should be 

 furnished with the means of grinding the 

 cob with the corn, and the saving to be de- 

 rived from feeding these, and the addition to 

 the dung-hill, would form an item in our ac- 

 counts of considerable moment in these hard 

 times. Is it not a little strange that so small 

 account is taken of the means which are so 

 immediately in our power to add to our 

 resources? J. A. 



On preparing Night-soil. 



Sir, — I observed a few days ago, in one 

 of your late periodicals, an inquiry, by a cor- 

 respondent, for the best method of preparing 

 night-soil for manure. He said "he had 

 mixed it with lime, and a very strong smell 

 of ammonia was evolved, whereby he feared 

 the efficacy of the manure might be impair- 

 ed." These conclusions are perfectly cor- 

 rect; its efficacy as organic manure would 

 be destroyed by the use of lime. 



When an organic body containing nitrogen 

 undergoes putrefaction, and moisture present, 



the nitrogen unites with the hydrogen of the 

 water, and forms ammonia; the oxygen, the 

 other element of water, unites with the car- 

 bon of the putrifying body, and forms car- 

 bonic acid ; both these transformations, in 

 their nascent state, combine and form car- 

 bonate of ammonia, a volatile salt, which is 

 always evaporating with water, as long as 

 the decomposition continues. Such invari- 

 ably takes place in nitrogenous bodies. 



When lime is added to a body holding car- 

 bonate of ammonia in solution, as in night- 

 soil, the ammoniacal salt is decomposed ; the 

 lime robs it of its carbonic acid, and caustic 

 ammonia, a still more volatile compound, 

 flies off in gas: thus we have got rid of all 

 the nitrogen the organic compound con- 

 tained. 



Organic manure, without nitrogen, is of 

 very little value. It pervades every part of 

 the vegetable structure, and no plant will 

 attain maturity, even in the richest mould, 

 without its presence. The relative value of 

 manure may be known by the relative quan- 

 tity of nitrogen it contains. There does not 

 appear to be any manure so rich in nitrogen 

 as human excrement (except bone manure, 

 which contains upwards of 30 per cent, of 

 gelatine in its interstices) ; so much so, that 

 according to the analyses of Macaire and 

 Marcet, 100 parts of human urine are equal 

 to 1300 parts of fresh dung of the horse, 600 

 parts of the cow, and 450 parts of the urine 

 of the horse. Hence it is evident that it 

 would be of much importance if none of the 

 human excrements were lost, especially when 

 we consider that with every pound of urine, 

 a pound of wheat might be produced. Now 

 I would suggest to your correspondent the 

 best and most economical method I know of 

 preserving unimpaired the most valuable ele- 

 ment in night-soil, which is as follows: to 

 every 100 lbs. of night-soil, add 7 lbs. of sul- 

 phate of lime (gypsum) in powder: a double 

 decomposition will ensue, and the result wili 

 be, instead of sulphate of lime and carbonate 

 of ammonia, carbonate of lime and sulphate 

 of ammonia; the latter a soluble salt which 

 cannot be volatilized. It might now be mix- 

 ed with other compost, or dried any way 

 thought proper, and applied to the roots of 

 the vegetable, to be again transformed into 

 bread, butter, cheese, &c. 



Chloride of calcium, sulphuric or muriatic 

 acid, substances of low price, would com- 

 pletely neutralize the urine, converting its 

 ammonia into salts which possess no vola- 

 tility. 



I would also suggest, that if the floors of 

 stables be strewed from time to time, with a 

 little sulphate of lime, they will lose all 

 their ofitnsive smell, and none of the am- 

 monia which forms can be lost, but retained 



