\ i»I.. XXI. .\0. 11. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



101 



From Or. Dana's Muck Manual. 



TURNING IN GREEN CROPS, &c. 



Tuniiiiof in ^reen crops, is returning only lo the 

 oil the salts, silicates and gainp. which the plant 

 las drawn out of it, toorcther with all the organic 

 latter, the plant itself has elaborated, from o.\ygen 

 ! nd hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen, from whatever 

 ource derived. It has decompo.sed, during the 

 i(i hort period of its growth, mure silicates and salts 

 han the nir only could eftoct during the same pe- 



d, which bemg turned in, restore to the soil 

 rem wliich they grew, salts and silicates in a new 

 orm, whose action on vegetation is like that of al- 

 alies. But powerful as are the etTects of green 

 rops plowed in, it is the experience of some prac- 

 ical men, that one crop allowed to perfect itself 

 nd then die where it grew, and then turned in 

 Iry, is superior to tiiree turned in green. The 

 vholo result is explained by the fact, that dry 

 ilanls give more geine than green. Green plants 

 erment, — dry plants decay. A large portion es- 

 apes in fermentation as gas, and more volatile 

 irodncts are formed than during decay. The one 

 s a quick consuming fire, the other a slow mould- 

 ring ember, giving off during all its progress, 

 jases which feed plants and decompose the sili- 

 :ates of soil. 



The power of fertility which exists in the sili- 

 :ates of soil is unlimited. An improved agricul- 

 ure, must depend upon the skill with which this 

 lower is brought into action. It can be done only 

 ly the conjunction of salts, geine and plants. Bar- 

 en sands are worthless; a peat bog is little bet- 

 ler ; but a practical illustration of the principles, 

 which have been maintained, is afforded by every 

 «andy knoll made fertile by spreading swamp muck 

 ipon it. Tills is giving geine to silicates. The 

 ery act of exposure of this swamp muck, has 

 jQUscd an evolution of carbonic acid gas; that de- 

 ;omposcs the silicates of potash in the sand ; that 

 lotash converts the insoluble into soluble manure, 

 md lo ! a crop. That growing crop adds its pow. 

 3r to the geine. If all tlie long series of experi- 

 Tients under Von Voght, in Germany, are to be 

 jclievcd, confirmed as they are by repeated trials 

 jy our own agriculturists, it is not to be doubted 

 .liat every inch of every sand knoll on every farm, 

 ;nay bo changed into a soil in 13 years, of half 

 that number of inches of good mould. 



That the cause of fertility is derived from the 

 decomposing power of the geine, and plants, is 

 evident from the fact, that mere atmospheric expo- 

 sure of rocks, enriches all soil lying near and 

 uround them. It has been thought among the in- 

 explicable mysteries, that the soil under an old 

 stone wall, is richer than that a little distance from 

 it. Independent of its roller action, which has com- 

 pressed the soil and prevented the aerial escape of 

 it3 geine, consider that the potash washed out of 

 the wall has done this, and the mystery disappears. 

 The agents to hasten this natural production of al- 

 kali, are salts and geine. The abundance of these 

 has already been pointed out in peat manure. Next 

 to this, dry crops plowed in ; no matter how scanty, 

 their volume will increase, and can supply the 

 place of thatBwamp muck. Of all soils to be culti- 

 vated, or to be restored, none are preferable to the 

 aandy, light soils. By their porousness, free ac- 

 cess is given to the powerful effects of air. They 

 are naturally in that state to which trenching, drain- 

 ing and subsoil plowing are reducing the stiffer 

 lands of England. Manure may as well be thrown 



'nto water as on land underlaid by water. Drain 

 this, and no matter if the upper soil be almost 

 quicksand, manure will convert it into fertile arable 

 land. The thin covering of mould, scarcely an 

 incii in thickness, the product of a century, may 

 be imitated by studying the laws of its formation. 

 This is the work of "Nature's 'prentice hand;" 

 man has long been her journeyman, and now guid- 

 ed by science, the farmer becomes the master 

 workman, and may produce in one year quite as 

 much as the apprentice made in seven. 



VALUE OF COW MANURE. 

 Without violence to chemistry, the composition 

 of cow dung may be stated as follows: 



Geine, 1.5.45 



Salts, 0.95 



Water, 83.60 



In 100 lbs. hardly 1-C of any value in agricul- 

 ture! Only about 1-0 of cow dung is soluble 

 geine. The insoluble is converted to soluble by 

 the action of the evolved ammonia. 



.An important question here presents itself. How 

 much ammonia will TOO lbs. of cow dung produce? 

 The ultimate analysis of this substance, that is, 

 that analysis which gives the proportion of the or- 

 ganic elements, is the following: 

 In 100 parts of cow dung — 



Nitrogen, .506 



Carbon, .204 



Hydrogen, .824 



Oxygen, 4.818 



From these data may be calculated how much 

 ammonia will be formed; for one part of nitrogen 

 unites with three parts of hydrogen to form ammo- 

 nia, or in the atomic proportions by weight — 

 14 of nitrogen, 

 3 of hydrogen, which form 



17 of real or pure ammonia. 



100 parts of fresh fallen cow dung will afford 

 therefore 0.614, or 5 8 of a pound of pure ammonia, 

 or 2.13 lbs., or about 2 lbs. 2 oz. of carbonate of 

 ammonia of the shops, called sal volatile or salts 

 of hartshorn. 



Cow dung then, the type of manures, resolves it- 

 self into geine, free alkali and salts. The salts, 

 considering the nitrogen as carbonate of ammonia 

 of the shops, will form about three per cent, of the 

 weight of the dung; or a bushel of 8(3 lbs. will 

 contain, in round numbers, 2 12 lbs. of salts of 

 ammonia, potash, soda and lime. 



The cow, then, is the great manufacturer of salts 

 and geine, and it is a question of the highest inte- 

 rest, what is the daily produce of her manufactory .' 

 In order to determine this, the following experi- 

 ment was conducted with great care at the barn 

 connected with the print works of the Merrimack 

 manufacturing company, in Lowell. ,\ single cow, 

 being only an average producer of the article in 

 question, was selected from the 50 cows usually 

 kept at the establishment. She was fed as usual 

 and as the other cows were. The food and water 

 were accurately weighed for seven days. She 

 consumed in this period, 



Water, 612 lbs. 



Potatoes, 87 '■ 



Hay, 167 " 



Total, 866 " food and drink, 



and voided, free from her liquid evacuations, 599 

 lbs. of dung. 



From the facts which hove been now stated, it 

 is evident that one cow prepares, daily, from 24 lbs. 

 of hay and 12 lbs. of potatoes, about one bushel, 

 or Sr,.r-,7 lbs. of dung. This affords only 14 1-2 lbs. 

 of solid manure, composed of hay so acted on by 

 the digestive organs as to form geine, when united 

 with the ammonia produced by putrefaction. One 

 cow daily forms therefore — 



12 lbs. geine, 



1-.5 " say 3 oz. of phosphate of lime, 

 1-10 " say 1 1-2 oz. of plaster of Paris, 

 1-10 " say 1 1-2 oz. of chalk. 

 Or per year, 



4400 lbs. of geine, 



71 " of hone du.st, 



37 " of plaster, 



37 " of lime, marble, or chalk, 



24 " of common salt, 



15 " of sal enixen, or sulphate of potash. 

 These are equal to one cow, or a curd of green 

 cow dung, pure as dropped, would be formed, daily, 

 by 108 cows. A cord of dung weighs 9,289 lbs., 

 to produce which requires 108 cows. And one 

 cow daily produces in excrements, salts of lime 

 sufficient for half a bushel of i;orn. 



Multiply the quantity produced by one cow, by 

 the number of cows kept, and it may easily be cal- 

 culated how much salts and geine are annually 

 applied to soil in this form. This is better done 

 than the estimate by cords or loads. The manure 

 from one cow is a definite, comprehensible quan- 

 tity, and it may be expressed by saying, that one 

 cow is spread per acre. 



Estimating the nitrogen as ammonia, the yearly 

 product of one cow is 15,5 lbs. of nitrogen, equal to 

 188 lbs. of pure ammonia, or equal to 550 lbs. uf 

 carbonate of ammonia of the shops. A single 

 cow, will therefore give annually, fed on hay and 

 potatoes, 31,025 lbs. of dung, containing 

 4,400 lbs. of geine, 

 ■550 " of carbonate of ammonia, 



71 " of bone dust, 



37 " of plaster, 



37 " of chalk, 



24 " of common salt, 



J5 " of sulphate of potash. 

 It is perfectly evident from this view, that the 

 main agricultural value depends on the ammonia or 

 nitrogen, and the geine. The lime in its forms of 

 salts, goes but little way towards this value, yet 

 valuable so far as they exist. It is evident that the 

 lime in the above salts of lime, the annual product 

 of one cow, is sufficient to supply the grain and 

 straw of a crop of wheat, of twenty bushels per 

 aere, on three acres. — Dana's Muck Manual. 



Lard Oil. — The new use to which hogs' lard 

 has recently been applied, in the manufacture of 

 oil and candles, equal to the best sperm, is one of 

 the most important innovations of the age. The 

 oil can be well afforded at 50 cents a gallon. Fac- 

 tories have already been established at the West 

 in St. Loui.", Cincinnati, Lexington and Louisville. 

 It is now reduced to a certainty that the hogs will 

 soon supply the whole demand for oil and sperm 

 candles. We say the tchole demand, because it is 

 obvious that we can grow land whales far cheaper 

 than we can obtain the sperm whale from the 

 ocean. The whales were becoming quite scarce, 

 and the hogs have timely stepped in to supply the 

 deficiency. The whaling business must ere lontr 

 be abandoned, and the whales may prepare for a 

 holiday Louisville paper. 



