LIME AS A MANURE. 225 



a time-honored practice in Europe. I have seen excellent results 

 from the application of such a compost on meadow-land. The 

 usual plan is, to select an old hedge-row or headland, which has 

 lain waste for many years. Plow it up, and cart the soil, sods, 

 etc., into a long, narrow heap. Mix lime with it, and let it lie six 

 months or a year. Then turn it, and as soon as it is tine and mel- 

 low, draw it on to the land. I have assisted at making many a 

 heap of this kind, but do not recollect the proportion of lime used; 

 in fact, I question if we had any definite rule. If we wanted to 

 use lime on the land, we put more in the heap ; if not, less. The 

 manure was usually put in when th heap was turned. 



Dr. Voelcker analyzed the dry earth used m the closets at the 

 prison in Wakefield, England. He found that : 



Nitro- Phosphor- 

 gen. Ic Acid. 



10 tons of dry earth before using contained 62 -Ibs. 36 Ibs. 



10 tons of dry earth after being used once contained... 74 " 50 " 

 10 tons of dry earth after being used twice contained. . 84 u 88 " 

 10 tons of dry earth after being used thrice contained. 102 " 102 " 



After looking at the above figures, the Deacon remarked : "You 

 say 10 tons of dry earth before being used in the closet contained 

 63 Ibs. of nitrogen. How much nitrogen does 10 tons of barn- 

 yard manure contain ? " 



"That depends a good deal on what food the animals eat. Ten tons 

 of average fresh manure would contain about 80 Ibs. of nitrogen." 



'* Great are the mysteries of chemistry ! " exclaimed the Deacon. 

 "Ten tons of dry earth contain almost as much nitrogen as 10 

 tons of barn-yard manure, and yet you think that nitrogen is the 

 most valuable thing in manure. What shall we be told next ? " 



" You will be told, Deacon, that the nitrogen in the soil is in 

 such a form that the plants can take up only a small portion of it. 

 But if you will plow such land in the fall, and expose it to the 

 disintegrating effects of the frost, and plow it again in the spring, 

 and let the sun and air act upon it, more or less of the organic 

 matter in the soil will be decomposed, and the nitrogen rendered 

 soluble. And then if you sow this land to wheat after a good 

 summer- fallow, you will stand a chance of having a great crop." 



This dry earth which Dr. Vcelcker analyzed appeared, he says, 

 " to be ordinary garden soil, containing a considerable portion of 

 clay." After it had been passed once through the closet, one ton 

 of it was spread on an acre of grass-land, which produced 2 tons 

 8 cwt. of hay. In a second experiment, one ton, once passed 

 through the closet, produced 2 tons 7 cwt. of hay per acre. We 

 are not told how much hay the land produced without any dress- 



