CHAPTER VI. 



THE NATURE AND VALUE OF NATURAL MANURES 



THE NECESSITY OF THIER ACCUMULATION AND 

 PREPARATION COMPOSTING HOW IT SHOULD BE 

 DONE AND THE CHEMICAL ACTION NECESSARY TO 

 BE PRODUCED 



THERE are many substances highly beneficial 

 to vegetation, which are often neglected from ig- 

 norance of their value. The excrements and 

 litter of the animals kept on a farm, if properly 

 preserved and prepared, will afford a large 

 amount of valuable manure, and will restore to 

 the soil a considerable portion of the elements 

 of the food on which these animals were fed. 

 But as most farmers raise cattle for sale, the 

 bulk of the" most valuable elements of the plants 

 on which they were fed, is removed. Every an- 

 imal raised, fattened and sold, represents a defi- 

 nite amount of the vital elements of fertility 

 removed from the soil ; and the practical farmer 

 should, in order to preserve its average produc- 

 tiveness, return an equal amount in some other 

 form. 



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