On Liquid Manure. 



I. ON THE COMPOSITION AND FERTILISING VALUE OF 

 LIQUID MANURE. 



Liquid manure, it need hardly be observed, may be produced 

 in a variety of ways. It may consist chiefly of the fermented 

 urine of horses, or cows, or pigs, or a mixture of them all ; or it may 

 be produced by converting the solid and liquid excrementitious 

 matters of our domestic animals into a muddy liquid ; and in 

 this process of liquefying the solid excrements and preparing 

 them for distribution on the land, much or little water may 

 be used. These and several other circumstances must, of course, 

 affect the composition of liquid manure, and with it its fertilising 

 value. 



In order, therefore, to ascertain how far the observed dissimi- 

 larity in the practical effects of liquid manure depends on dif- 

 ferences in composition, I procured six samples of liquid 

 manure, namely : 



1. From Westonbirt, near Tetbury, Gloucestershire. 



2. From Badminton. 



3. From Royal Agricultural College farm ; collected 1857. 



4. From ditto, collected 1858. 



5. From Tiptree Hall, Essex ; clear liquid. 



6. From ditto ; muddy liquid. 



A strong, disagreeable smell, and more or less dark colour, 

 were common to all ; but the differences in the concentration of 

 the liquids were much greater than I expected. 



No. 1. Liquid Manure from Westonbirt, near Tetbury. 



A large jar filled with liquid manure from Westonbirt farm, the 

 property of Stainer S. Holford, Esq., was kindly furnished me by 

 Mr. Rich, Mr. Holford's agent. The tank from which the liquid 

 was taken had been recently erected, and no expense appears to 

 have been spared in making it perfectly water-tight. A perfectly 

 well-fitting cover sheltered the contents against rain, and against 

 evaporation in hot and dry weather. The contents of the tank 

 consisted chiefly of the drainings of the stables, and contained 

 comparatively little cows' or pigs' urine. On setting the liquid- 

 manure pump in motion hardly any liquid made its appearance, 

 but in its stead a thick white froth continued to flow off for 

 some minutes ; after which a dark greenish-brown, very offensive 



