THE TRUE VALUP; OP MANURE. 



staple products of the country, in given circumstances, 

 by a course of experiments for many years; and no 

 subject deserves more to be investigated on experi- 

 mental farms than this; because it is too costly for 

 others, on account of the loss which they suffer in the 

 unmanured half of the field. How the product of 

 the field increases with the mcrease of manure, and a 

 proportional rotation of crops we have shown in vol. 

 i., p. 180. But as the statements there made are 

 drawn from universal experience and reason, they 

 may be attacked until reference be had to the par- 

 ticular experiments which lie at the ground of them. 

 Every experiment which may be made respecting 

 this neglected subject is, therefore, of the highest 

 importance, and deserves to be carefully collected; 

 and in this point of view I hold, as very deserving of 

 notice, what Gosparin says, concerning the relative 

 value of manure, in his Memoir on the Culture of the 

 Olive in the South of France. ' The average product 

 of seven years of a garden of olives of 1,600 young 

 trees which were not manured was 651 lbs. of oil. 

 (One tree gave only 0.40 lb.) A similar number of 

 the same trees, which in three years had collectively 

 840 cwt. of manure, gave yearly 1,497 lbs. of oil. 

 (For 0.93 lb.) One cwt. of manure, therefore, pro- 

 duced three ib.q. of oil. The manure was horse dung. 

 The product of the larger trees was raised by manure 

 in the same proportion. Trees thirty years old not 

 manured for a number of years gave 3^ lbs. of oil; 

 while those which had yearly 168 lbs. of manure, on 

 a mean average, bore 814 lbs. of oil. One hundred 

 weight of manure increased the product of oil about 

 2.91 lbs. A person yearly manured his olives, and 

 succeeded in obtaining, as the mean product of fifteen- 

 year-old trees, 4J lbs. of oil Trees situated near 

 the house, which had yearly two cwt. of manure, pro- 

 duced ten pounds of oil each.' 



" NiooLAi, in his Pri/icip!es for the Administration 

 of Estates, assumes, probably after Beckendokf, that 

 there will be produced from one head of cattle, ten 

 two-spanned loads of manure in a year. From one 

 stall-fed horse, fifteen loads as above. From a grass- 

 horse, 7 J loads. From 100 head of sheep, 100 

 loads. By careful littering, swine are reckoned at 

 tmce as much as cattle. 



" According to Kaebe, sixty-five cows in summer 

 on a pasture, being kept over night in stalls, will 

 manure forty-four yokes (62 J acres). 



" According to Leopold, four cows kept in stables 

 and properly littered, yield fifty loads of manure, of 

 which six will answer for an acre. 



" In a very learned and able treatise, found in the 



Annals of JVetherla/id Agriculture, the proportion 

 of manure of different animals is stated to be as follows : 



1 head of cattle -. iso 



1 " horse _ I 170 



I " sheep _ _I.r_"r 10 



"Veit says, vol. i. p. 365:— 'The value of stall 

 manure is determined by the value of the production 

 effected liy it. The quantity of production depends 

 on — 1st, the natural capacity of the soil; 2d, on the 

 choice, preparation and employment of the manure; 

 3d, on the choice of plants which are cultivated in 

 one period of manuring; 4th, on the system of culture, 

 especially the rotation of crops, and the treatment 

 and use of the soil.' " 



Note by the Editor.— It is not the fault of the 

 able German writers on agriculture that it is so diSi- 

 cult to ascertain the true value of manure. The 

 problem to be solved is exceedingly complex. In 

 one series of experiments the same mixture of liquid 

 and solid excrements differed five-fold in its effects 

 when applied to clayey soil in good condition, and to 

 dry, sandy soil in bad condition; and pulverized hu- 

 man excrement, as well as all other materials of ma- 

 nure m the form of powder, displayed a dissimilar 

 greater effect if they cover the ground and are shaded 

 by the plants manured, than when employed in 

 a smaller mass and on an unshaded surface. In a 

 word, the most trust-worthy experiments prove that 

 one may lose two-thirds of the strength and virtue of 

 his manure after it is hauled into the field, by solar 

 evaporation, and partly, perhaps, by its salts being 



washed away over the surface of the ground. 



ScHWERTz remarks, "that it is incredible how the 

 Belgians with so little manure can manure so much 

 land." This success he attributes to their skiU in 

 classifying the fertilizing power of different kinds of 

 manure, and adjusting it to the exact condition of 

 the land, and the precise wants of the plants to be 

 grown. ScHWEKTZ adds, " such facts ought to make 

 us ashamed, and wake us up to a zealous imitation." 



Belgium contains a denser population than any 

 other nation in Europe; and yet, for the area under 

 cultivation, no other country exports so much of the 

 products of husbandry. These are striking facts, and 

 indicate great advancement in agriculture. 



How to make the most of any given quantity of 

 manure, is a matter of great interest to a thoughtful 

 farmer. The Belgians calculate the urine of each 

 cow as worth two pounds, or about ten dollars a 

 year. At this rate, the six and a half million cows 

 now in the United States, might yield liquid manure 



