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On the Preparation and Use of Manures. Vol. VIII. 



cient profit. Even with a moderate loss, 

 they must be kept, when manure cannot be 

 purchased. The loss, if any, on the cattle, 

 must be repaid by the increase of the corn 

 crops. Manure is to a farm, what daily food 

 is to an animal ; it must be procured at any 

 sacrifice." Common barn-yard or stable 

 manure is the kind to which most farmers 

 must look for the fertility of their farms. 

 This consists of the droppings of the cattle, 

 mixed with, the straw used for littering in 

 stables, or thrown into the yards for the ani- 

 mal to feed or lie upon, the coarser hay and 

 weeds refused by the stock, and the urine of 

 the animals kept in the stables or yards. 

 This is constantly trampled, is usually kept 

 moist if not wet, and is finally decomposed, 

 or converted into manure fit for the produc- 

 tion of crops. This is the most usual course, 

 but it is evident that there must, in this me- 

 thod, be a serious loss to the farmer, of the 

 more valuable properties of the manure. In 

 this way, the decomposition is unequal ; a 

 part will be converted into mould, while the 

 other will be scarcely acted upon; the salts 

 and the more soluble parts of the excre- 

 ments, which are the most efficient ones, 

 are dissolved by the rains, and carried off by 

 the drains, or lost in the earth ; and where 

 any considerable degree of heat is evolved, 

 as there will be when the decomposition is 

 rapid, or is going on in large masses, the 

 escape of ammonia, so easily detected by the 

 smell, shows that the nitrogen, so essential 

 to the growth and perfection of a grain crop, 

 is rapidly wasting. 



Preparation. — To prevent these results, 

 and secure the whole benefit of the manure, 

 two methods have been adopted. The first 

 consists in applying the manure fresh, or in 

 a long state, to the fields it is wished to ma- 

 nure, without waiting for it to decompose. 

 In this way the manure collected in the 

 yards during the winter, is removed in the 

 spring, and applied to such crops as require 

 it the most; and as no fermentation ensues 

 in ordinary cases, until the commencement 

 of hot weather, two sources of loss at least 

 are avoided, those of the washing away of 

 the soluble parts, or their being carried off 

 in the shape of gas. Where there exists 

 no necessity for retaining manures for other 

 than spring crops, and where the crops cul- 

 tivated are such that long manures are suit- 

 able for their growth and tillage, this mode 

 of disposing of manures must be considered 

 one of the best that can be adopted. But 

 in many cases the formation of manures in 

 the yards and stables of tlie farmer is going 

 on the whole year; and preservation in 

 masses, or by being scattered in yards du- 



ring the hot months, would be greatly to 

 lessen, if not mostly to destroy its value. Be- 

 sides, there are some crops, such as some of 

 the root crops, in the cultivation of which 

 experience has proved fully, that rotted or 

 decomposed manure is far preferable to long 

 manure, as much of it is already in a soluble 

 state, and is available to the plants at the 

 time they need hastening the most, which 

 is the period immediately afler germination. 

 Where the waste of manure is to be pre- 

 vented during the summer months, or it is 

 desirable to provide a quantity of fully rotted 

 manure, then the second method should be 

 used; and this indeed, by many excellent 

 farmers, is considered the best in all cases. 

 Fermentation. — In this method, the prac- 

 tice is to remove the dung from the stables 

 and yards at short intervals, and place it in 

 large piles or masses, that the proper fer- 

 mentation may take place previous to- its 

 use. When a pile of manure is made in 

 this way, the fermentation takes place in 

 the quantities applied, as they are succes- 

 sively deposited, and therefore does not 

 reach usually that point in which material 

 loss is sustained. If it is found that the 

 heat is becoming too great, or the fermenta- 

 tion injuriously rapid, so as to cause the es- 

 cape of ammonia, a layer of earth or sods 

 placed over the pile, will retain, by combi- 

 nation, the escaping gases, and thus prevent 

 the loss. It has been found a most excellent 

 plan, one which not only greatly increases 

 the quantity of manures made in this way, 

 but adds to its quality, to mingle with or 

 cover the successive deposits of manure, 

 with earth from ditches or ponds, peat or 

 muck from swamps, or turf from bogs or 

 ploughed lands, as such layers, consisting 

 mostly of vegetable or animal matters, will, 

 by absorbing the drainings of the manure, 

 or the absorption of the escaping gases, be 

 converted into one of the most efficient of 

 fertilizers. The more solid such deposits of 

 manure are made, the more slow will the 

 fermentation be, and hence in unloading, 

 the carts or wagons may be driven over 

 them if necessary to expedite the work, 

 where the immediate use of the manure is 

 not an object. Should the d\mg placed in 

 these heaps be too slow in fermenting, it 

 may be hastened by opening the piles, or 

 still better by making holes in the top, into 

 which the wash of the yards and the urine 

 of the stables may be poured. This method 

 has another advantage. The manure from 

 the yards, if not wanted as long manure, 

 may be removed to the fields where it is to 

 be used, at times when the men of the farm 

 cannot be otherwise profitably employed, and 



