no 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



(from the iNevv England Farmer.) 

 FARMERS' "WORK. 



Liquid Manuke. — Water, in its purest state, when 

 1 1 lias been disiilled or filttrod ihrougli snnd, still retains 

 somewhat of the food of plants. Its component parts, 

 oxygen and hydrogen, under certain circumstances, are 

 seized by vegetables wiiile in their growing state, and 

 onverted into the products which form the constituents 

 of all plants. But pure water forms a comparatively 

 meagre diet for plants. It may support life in vegeta- 

 bles, and some plants with no other nourishment thin 

 that which is afforded by pure water and air. But when 

 water is impregnated vviiii certain salts and gases, par- 

 ticularly such as are evolved during the fermentation of 

 vegetable and animal substances, it becomes vchal is 

 cMed liquid manure. Urine, or the stale of animals is 

 water holding in solution certain salts and other substan- 

 ces, which constitute food for plants. 



It is therefore, very important that the floor under a 

 cow house or cattle stall slio Id be k' pt very tight, 

 so that none of the stale may be lost, which, when mix- 

 ed with other substances, is very valuable as manure. 

 A fanner, said Dr. Deane, would be no tm^re blame 

 worthy for throwing away the dung than the urine of 

 beasts, which contains abundance of fertilizing salt, and 

 oils. But if it besuiTeied to tun through the floor, it is 

 entirely lost " 



The stile should be conveyed through the floor into 

 the cellar, or if there be none let it pass, in constructed 

 chinnul.s through the sides to the dung heap, or sterco- 

 rary. Few ciiltiv tors appear to properly appreciate the 

 value of liquid manure, and of course the advantages 

 whicii result from making arrangements for saving and 

 making the most of it. We have frequently attempted 

 to impres.-i on our readers the importance of this atten- 

 tion ; and,- particularly, in the N. E. Farmer, vol. 1, p. 

 190. As many of our subscribers are not in posse>sion 

 of that number, we will reprint a passage or two from 

 the page referred to : — 



According to some writers and practical farmers, the 

 value of the urine of cattle, if properly preserved and 

 applied is greater tli.'.n that of all the dung v.'hich the 

 same aniu)als would yield ! A letter from Charles Al- 

 exander, near Preblcs, in Scotland to Sir John Sinclair 

 contains much valuable information on this subject. 

 " This intelligent farmer had long been impressed with 

 the great imf)ortai ce of the urine of ciitile as a manure, 

 he set about to discover by a long and well-conducted 

 series of cxperiiueui;;, the best method of collecting and 

 applying it. He be_an by digging a pit conliguous to 

 the feeding stall, but distinct altogotlier from that, which 

 was appropriated for the rei eption of the dung. The di- 

 mensions of the pit, according to his own account, were 

 thirtysix feet square and f uir f.-et deep, surrounded on 

 all sides by a wall ; and the so'id cor)tents were one 

 hundred and nir etytvvo yards. Having selected the 

 nearest spot where he could find loamy earth, and this 

 he always took from the surface of some field under cul- 



tivation, he proceeded to fill it ; and found that with 

 three men and two hours he could easily accomplish 

 twentyeight cubic yards per day ; and the whole ex- 

 pense of transporting the earth did not exceed four pounds 

 sixteen shillings [about twentytwo dollars.] When the 

 work w;.s complete, he levelled the surface of the iieap 

 in a line with the sewer which conducted the urine from 

 the interior of the building, on purpose that it might be 

 distributed with regularity, and might saturate the whole 

 from top to bottom. The quantity to be conveyed to it 

 he estimates at about eight hundred gallons ; but as this 

 calculatton was founded partly on conjecture, for he 

 measured not the liquor, it will be better and more in- 

 structive to furnish and proceed on data that are cer- 

 tain and incontrovertible. The liquid manure was sup- 

 plied by fourteen cattle weighing about thiriyfour stone 

 [four hundred and seventysix pounds] each, and kept 

 there for five months on fodder and turnips. Tlie con- 

 tents of the pit produced two hundred and eighiyeight 

 loads, allowing two cubic yards to he taken out in three 

 carts; and he spread forty of these on each acre, so that 

 his urine in fiv months, and from fourteen caltl- pro- 

 duced a compost sulhcient for the fertilization of seven 

 acres of land. He strJes farther that he liad triei the 

 experiment for ten years, and had indiscriuiiuately used 

 in the same field, either the rotted cow-dung or tiie sat- 

 urated earth; and in all stages of the crop, he liai never 

 been able to find any perceptible difference. But what 

 is still more wonderful, he found his compost lasted in 

 its effects as many years as his best putrescent manures ; 

 and he therefore, boldly avers that a load of each is of 

 equivalent value." 



We hope Soon to resume this subject 



(i-'rem the .New England Farmer.) 



Mr Editor — In the Farmer of 1835, you spoke of 

 the use of Potash being less expensive than ashes as a ma- 

 nure, without meiitioning the qu^mtity of water, or how 

 it is to be distributed, nor if it would be Letter in the 

 Autumn or Spring. You will oblige those who a.-e igno- 

 rant by any particulars you can give. 



Bv THE Editor. — The article alluded to was iMUen 

 from the New York Farmer, and contains the following 

 particulars, which wo wish had been somewhat more 

 definite : 



"I had a lot of meadow lands containing about thiee 

 acres, which had been reduced to poverty by severe 

 cropping. On this piece of ground I made the follow- 

 ing experiment. Having broken up the sward, and har- 

 rowed it repeatedly until quite mellow, I spicad leached 

 ashes over one acre, and potash dissolved in water on 

 two other acres; sowed millet seed, clover and timothy 

 all mixed together in the proportion of one part of each 

 of the latter to five of the former, and one bushel of the 

 mixture to an acre ; harrowed all in together on or about 

 the first of the sixth month. 



The ashes cost fifteen do ilars, the potash five dollars 



