No. 2. 



Waste Manures. 



57 



"^'V'aste Manures. 



Carey & Hart have lately published one of the 

 best Essays we have seen on "The Economy of Waste 

 Manures." It was written by John Ilannam, for the 

 Yorkshire Agricultural Society, and should be in the 

 possession of every farmer who properly appreciates 

 tho value of the fertilizing materials which he is in 

 the habit of collecting together— he will be vastly 

 aided in his operations by the judicioas, practical and 

 simple instructions of the writer: and he who does 

 not already thus appreciate his manure heap, will 

 hardly fail to be stimulated on this point in a manner 

 that will soon show itself on his increased crops. Be- 

 low is an extract directly to the point. — Ed. 



Nothing must he allowed to run away in 

 the form of a fluid, or to fly away in the 

 disguise of a smell. * * * Mark out a 

 piece of ground on which the dunghill is to 

 be made, on a good slope, if possible, and 

 close by a pond. Cut a gutter all round, 

 and puddle it with clay, so as to make it 

 water-tight. Then, at the lowest part, out- 

 side the place where the dunghill is to lie, 

 dig a sink hole eighteen or twenty inches 

 deep; let this be well puddled, and connect- 

 ed with the gutter already spoken of. Things 

 being thus prepared, throw down a layer of 

 of manuring substances, about a foot deep ; 

 tread them well down, and scatter some 

 fixer over it: finally, water it well. In this 

 manner go on with layer after layer, till the 

 heap is the desired height. * * * During 

 the operation of making the heap, some 

 water will have drained away; in that case, 

 it will have run mto the gutter, and been 

 collected in the sink hole. Scuppet the 

 water out as the work proceeds, and throw 

 it back on the dunghill. If the hole is not 

 large enough, another can be made near it; 

 none of the drainings must on any Recount 

 be lost. It should have, at least, once a 

 week, for a month, a good quantity of fluid 

 thrown upon it. Pot-boilings, and soap-suds, 

 are miich better than common water; but 

 urine is preferable to both. * * By these 

 contrivances nothing is allowed to leak, but 

 the dunghill becomes a soft mass, holding 

 fast all which belongs to it, except what 

 flies away. To catch the latter is the pur- 

 pose of the fixer. There are many kinds of 

 fixers, — oil of vitriol, blue vitriol, salt and 

 lime, (not either salt or lime by theuiselves 

 on any account,) gypsum, &c., may be used; 

 but some of them at all times, and in some 

 cases all them, have the fault of costing mo- 

 ney. A substitute which costs nothing except 

 labour is, therefore, to be sought for. Such 

 exists in cinder siftings, charcoal dust, good 

 black earth, peat or bog mould, rotten saw- 

 dust, leaf mould, black mud from ponds, 

 bottoms of wood stacks, soot, brick-dust, 

 burnt clay, &.c. 



Mr. H. S. Thompson, of Kirby Hall, at 



the late meeting of the Yorkshire Agricul- 

 tural Society, at Doncaster, reconunended 

 the plan he adopted, which was, " to have 

 a pit dug in the earth, in which to throw the 

 manure, instead of having it piled up in a 

 heap. The bottom of the pit is water tight, 

 and has a slope towards the centre, where a 

 tank is placed so as to receive the drainings 

 from the manure. These drainings are fre- 

 quently poured over the manure, so as to 

 keep up a regular, but not excessive, fer- 

 mentation. He was in the habit of collect- ' 

 ing all the couch grass, stubble, and other 

 vegetable refuse which the farm afforded, 

 and spreading it on the bottom of the pit to 

 the depth of six or eight inches. This, 

 when well soaked with the liquor that drain- 

 ed from the manure, which was carted 

 upon it, and fermented together with that 

 manure, was, he believed, as good as any 

 other portion of the heap. In this way he 

 had, last year, on a farm of two hundred 

 acres of arable land, increased his manure 

 by two hundred single horse loads, which 

 was equivalent to four additional loads per 

 acre for his fallow crops. If the manure 

 was wanted for immediate use, it should be 

 lightly thrown together, and, after being 

 well soaked with tank liquor, have a thin 

 covering of soil to absorb the gases which 

 would otherwise escape. In this case, it 

 must be carefully watched and well watered, 

 from time to time, to prevent the fermenta- 

 tion fi'om becoming excessive. If the ma- 

 nure is to be kept six months or more, it 

 should be made solid by carting over it, and 

 have a thick covering of soil, which would 

 nearly exclude the air. In this way manure 

 may be preserved for a year almost without 

 loss. In very dry weather, the drainings 

 from the manure are not sufficient to keep it 

 moist, and it becomes necessary to saturate 

 it with some other liquid. If the farmer has 

 other tanks on his premises, it would be 

 better to use their contents for this purpose, 

 but where such are not at hand, plain water 

 may be used, and has been found to answer 

 exceedingly well." 



Sheep. — It is very common in the months 

 of June and July, for some kinds of sheep, 

 especially the fine Leicester breed, to be 

 struck with a kind of fly, and by scratching 

 the place with their feet, they make it sore 

 and raw. To prevent this, take tar, train 

 oil and salt, boil them together, and when 

 cold, put a little of it on the part affected. 

 This application keeps off the flies, and like- 

 wise heals the sore. The salt should be in 

 very small quantity, or powdered sulphur 

 may be used instead of it. — Boston Traveller. 



