ORGANIC MANURES. 



iir through it, ami the increasing heat of the sun promote* 

 it- decomposition. 



Lo\; AND SHORT MANI RK. The question has been often 

 mooted as to the comparative advantages of long and short 

 manure, (the fermented and unfermented.) This must depend 

 on the use for which they are designed. If intended for the 

 garden beds, or for loose light soils, or as a top dressing for 

 meadows, or any crops, or if needed to kill any noxious seeds 

 incorporated with the heap, it should be fermented ; if for 

 hoed crops in clay or loamy soils, it should be used in as 

 fresh condition as possible. Loose soils are still farther 

 loosened lor a time by long manure, and much of its volatile 

 parts is lost before it is reduced to mold ; while adhesive and 

 compact soils are improved by the coarse vegetables which 

 tend to their separation ; and all the gases which are sot 

 tree in fermentation, are combined and firmly held in the 

 soil. 



DECOMPOSITION OF MANURES. Three conditions are 

 essential to produce rapid decomposition in manure ; air, 

 moisture and a temperature above 65, and these except in 

 frosty weather, are generally present in the heap. The 

 gradual chemical changes going on in all manures, but most 

 actively in the excrements of the horse and sheep where they 

 have sufficient air and moisture, induce an elevation which 

 keeps them always above the low temperature of the sur- 

 rounding air. If the manure be trodden compactly and satu- 

 rated with water, the air cannot circulate, and if its tempera- 

 ture be likewise kept down, it will be preserved a long time 

 unchanged. The fermentation of manure should go forward 

 when thoroughly blended with all the vegetable and liquid 

 fertilizers about the premises, including urine, brine, soap- 

 suds, ashes, gypsum and coal-dust ; the last three substances 

 combining with the ammonia as it is formed. Over all these 

 should be placed a good coating of turf, peat or fine mould, 

 which will absorb any gases that escape the gypsum, &c. 

 Old mortar or effete lime may also be added for the formation 

 of nitric acid. It draws this not only from the materials in 

 the heap, but largely also from the nitrogen of the air ; it 

 having been ascertained in the manufacture of saltpetre, 

 (nitrate of potash,) that the amount of nitrogen in the salt, is 

 greatly increased above that in the manure used. The 

 absorption of nitre by lime in a course of years, is found to 

 be large, as is seen by the practice of the Chinese farmers, 

 who to secure it wiU gratuitously remove the old plaster on 



