-NEW ENGL A TV i> FA 



VOL. V 



V-' -^' "•' ■'^"ll'lii^:!!^lh!lJ^'ll^I'L^':^^ l.,M, all Mr.cn)._TH 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, OCTOBEirj8~!826 



. 



OIIIGINAL PAPERS. 



ESSAY ON MANURES, 

 tented to the Cheshire, A". n..^gn,uUurcl Saci- 

 etj. by LuKi; Momk, Esq.._/or which a pre- 

 niittm ti\is awarded by said Society. 

 (Concludcti from page 82.) 

 wliat slate of fenncntalion, it is most profita- 

 to put manure into the soil, or whether any be 

 ossary in farm yard dung, has of late been 

 h discus.seJ by scientific writers on a^rricul- 

 Sir Humphrey Oavy has treated the subject 

 much observation anil science. lie confirms 

 theory by experiments of his own, and of the 

 X enligiitened agriculturists. He thinks, the 

 dung- of cattle, &c. needs no fermentation, 

 iously to its application. | 



til as .he dung of cuttle and horses are unite;i j 

 ;he yarri with "straw, oft'al, ciiaft' an J various 

 Is of litter, a slight incipient fermentation, is 

 oubtedly of use." But he says, " it is better 

 there should be no fermentation at all, before ' 

 iinnure is used, than that it should be carrieij I 

 far." "During the violent fermentation ne-| 

 Mry for reducing farm yard manure to the 

 e in which it is called short muck; not only a 

 re quantity of fluid but likewise a gaseous mat- 

 is lost, so much so that the dung is reduced 

 thirds in weight ; and the principal elastic 

 ter disengaged is carbonic acid with some 

 nonia ; and both these, if retained by the mois- 

 in the soil as has been stated, are capable of 

 Jining on useful food to plants." By e.vperi 

 its he discovered tliat " soluble vegetable sub- 

 nces passed in an unchanged state into the 

 ta of plants," and that fermentation was only 

 essary in the preparation of vegetable food to 

 ■ der fibrous substances soluble. The practice 

 our far.mcrs is opposed to this theory. Their 

 ervations have been too limited in the use ot 

 en or unfermented dung. In making similar 

 of it as of the thoroughly fermented or short 

 ck the eJFects for tlie first year, are in favour of 

 latter. For, if recent dung of cattle be put 

 the hill for Indian corn, its soluble and 

 ritious parts are too concentrated, and the mass 

 nearly impervious to nourish and extend the 

 ical fibres of the plants. If this dung be mixed 

 h straw, litter. &c. or horse dung, which is al- 

 ys imperfectly digested, the process of fer- 

 ntation will generate too much heat for the ten 

 • fibres in some soils. But let the former or 

 ?en dung be mixed with earthy matter and be 

 t into tiie hill for Indian corn, and the latter or 

 arse manure be spread, and ploughed into the 

 .1 for the same crop, and also in the hill for po 

 ;oes, it will then be discovered that the produce 

 11 be ptpially good the first year, and better pre 

 red for future crops. In N. H. Ag. Repository 

 is stated that " when green dung is laid upon 

 : field and ploughed in, it is so dispersed, that 

 ;an ferment but little, if any. It is said of un- 

 mented dung, that its good effects will be felt 

 iger than tho^o of fermented. This is probably 

 le, for durirgthe first year after green dung 

 laid upon the field it do°3 but little more than to 

 pnpand for actual use." The superior eflfects 

 green dung in the subsequent years, being con- 



No. 12. 



ceded ; tlie question between us, rests un its ef- 

 fects the Jirsl year. But green dimg is -'prepared 

 for actual use" tlio first year, liow is this cf.'ect- 



ed .' By what other process than fermentation ? 



It is well understood, that all that is necessary in 

 this process is a due degree of heat, moisture, and 

 oxygon (or atmospheric air.) Neitlier of these is 

 wanting when the manure is ploughed into the 

 soil. For \\ here>er tlicse obtain iti sufiictent quan- 

 tity, to promote vegetation, decomposition w ill take 

 place. The greater degree of heat in the manure 

 heap, than in the manure in the soil, is generated 

 by the process' of fermentation, but this must be- 

 I gin witliout tlie agency of this generated heat, and 

 i when once commenced, the same cause will con- 

 I tinue it, as well in the latter, however small thn 

 I quantity, as in the former. . The gradual manner 

 j in wiiich this process will be carried on, will gen- 

 erate a slight degree of heat favourable to the 

 I germination of seeds, and will cause more of the 

 I elastic matter disengaged to be absorbed by the 

 I soil, afibrding a consti.nl supply of food to plants. 

 I But let us resort to facts, for the effects of green 

 dung tlie first year. Farmers universally prefei 

 such fur potatoes. Wherever there is an unusual- 

 ly large crop of Indian corn, we are generally told 

 that a quantity o{ green mamtrewas ploughed into 

 the field before planting, and old manure was put 

 into the hill. I observed, in a field of Indian corn 

 last year, a part of which was manured in the hill 

 with green dung, and the other with old, a great- 

 er burthen in the latter than in the former. This 

 difference was undoubtedly owing to the causes 

 before assigned. I have this year made a similar 

 experiment. One half the quantity of green dung 

 was used as of old. Every other circumstance 

 was equal. The former was with the hoe coarsely 

 pulverized, and mixed with earth. The corii, 

 planted on the green dung, has appeared as well 

 through the season as any other part of the field, 

 the ears quite as well set and filled. I have been 

 informed by a farmer that he is in the practice of 

 plantiiig Indian corn on green dung, and that his 

 crops are as good as his neighbors." He sleds his 

 dung from his barn windows to his field late in the 

 winter. The operation of the frost breaks up its 

 texture, and by a little shovelling in the spring, it 

 is pretty well prepared for the hill. Bosides^the 

 loss in quantity and quality of manure in keepini; 

 it a year longer than is necessary, the economical 

 farmer will calculate his loss of interest on the 

 capital for that time. If the farm yard is cleare. 

 of manure twice in a yeHr,equal quantities of other 

 materials may be carted into it, as when cleared 

 in the fall only. The manure, which the industri 

 ous farmer has collected in his yards during the 

 .-ummer months, will, in the fall, be carted to his 

 fields and mixed, by alternately carting a few loads 

 from each source to the same heap. This manure 

 will be in the best order to be put into the hill for 

 Indian corn. In the spring a larger quantity o( 

 unfermented manure may be taken from the same 

 sources to be spread on the same field, and for po 

 •Ttoes in the hill. In this economical plan more 

 round may be kept under tillage, with sreater re- 

 turns of English grain and hay, succeeding Indiat, I 

 corn, without additional manure. 

 I The importaice of the subject, I trust, will in 



some measure apologise for having said so much 

 on the degree of iormenlation required in the pre- 

 par„lion of manure. 



Compost, made by ploughing the sides of the 

 roais, by tlecayed chips, &t. to which is some- 

 liuies added barn yard dung, lime, or ashes, is most 

 beneficially aj^plieu to top-dressing grass kn 1. Irt 

 this preparation, a material error is often observa- 

 ble. CJreen dung is spread on the suri'ice of the 

 bed or heap, and thus is lost the object of this ap- 

 plication. Fermentation takes place slowly in the 

 (lung, but the heat and gasses escape in the air, 

 ivhile the other materials remain, nearly unaffact- 

 ed by the process. The dung should be incorpo- 

 rated with the other materials by ploughing, or 

 laid up in alternate layers into small heaps^ the 

 last layer being earth. In this way the process 

 of decomposition, commencing in the dung, com- 

 municates itself to the other matters, and the pro- 

 ducts disengag-cd, are absorbed and retained 



Lime or ashes may be added, and perhaps, as eco- 

 nomically without dung. They are powerful a- 

 gents in promoting putrefaction. Compost of this 

 kind cannot be profitably made, except for top 

 dressing land, w liich cannot be ploughed, without 

 an injury to tlie soil ; for most of tliese matsrials 

 would be more serviceable in the barn and lioo- 

 yards as before stated. Top dressing is undoubt" 

 edJy a wasteful way of applying manure. If the 

 land be descending it is washed off; if not, much 

 of it escapes by evaporation. * 



Wood ashes have been used to fertilize the earth 

 as long as we have any account of the art of lius- 

 bandry. Th"/ contain charcoal .ind the vegeta- 

 ble alkali united to carbonic acid. These°may 

 again be reorganized into vegetable life. The al- 

 j kah acts powerfully, in decomposing the woody fi- 

 bres ; and the gradual solution of charcoal increas- 

 es their value as a permanent manure. They at- 

 tract moisture from the atmosphere, which renders 

 them particularly serviceable to dry soils. They 

 are very beneficial to Indian corn, when applied to 

 the hill, early in the season. But no grain re- 

 ceives so much benefit, from a dressing of ishea 

 as wheat. In top dressing of grass land, they are 

 ali?o useful. Seven years since, I applied a few 

 cart loads of leached ashes to that part of a mead- 

 ow, which bore little else than stinted hardbacks, 

 cranberry and moss. The first year, clover and 

 herds grass made their appearance. Since winch 

 time, it has produced a very good crop of these, 

 red top, and meadow grasses. I have annually ap- 

 plied to diflerent parts of the same meadow, either 

 road manure, barn yard dung, or plaster. They 

 have all been evidently useful ; but the ashes the 

 ujost so. Leached ashes are undoubtedly more 

 Jeneficial, than the unleached, according to their 

 iiierchantable prices. Probably owing, to their 

 ■ ontaining more charcoal, and possessing more 

 body, tlieir capacity for the absorption of moisture 

 H greater. The opinion, that ashes exhaust the 

 oil by t!ieir forcing properties, in the sense as 

 generally received, is incorrect. It i^ true, they 

 call into use some of its dormant qualities, which 

 must in time be expended, and the soil less pro- 

 luctive, unless some proportion of its products is 

 restored, in the stale of manure. But if they /orre 

 the soil to do its office, they furnish from tiiem- 



