OB AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



second floor is meant merely as a filter, we have it lower en 

 one side than the other, by which means, in the course of a 

 day or two, the carbonized peat is left comparatively drv. 

 The water having passed off at the lower side, the first or 

 fermenting floor is again filled as before, and the contents of 

 the second floor, if considered saturated enough, are then 

 shovelled up into a corner, and allowed to drip, and further 

 dry till used, which may be either immediately, or at the end 

 of twenty years, as scarcely anything will affect it, if not ex- 

 posed to the continued washing of pure water, or exposed to 

 the influence of the roots of growing plants. By being 

 thinly spread on a granary floor, it soon becomes perfectly 

 dry, and suited to pass through drill machines. 



* The mixing of the carbonized peat with the liquid manure 

 on the first or fermenting floor, it will be observed, is for 

 laying hold of the gaseous matters as they escape during the 

 fermentation ; perhaps other substances may effect this more 

 effectually, but none so cheaply. I think by this plan it will 

 be obvious to every one that a great many desiderata are at 

 once obtained. In the first place, you get free of over 900 

 parts out of every 1,000 of the weight and bulk of manure, by 

 the expulsion of the water ; while at the same time you link 

 all the fertilizing properties contained in it to one of the most 

 handy vehicles light, cleanly, and portable, and possessed 

 of the peculiar property of holding together the most volatile 

 substances, till gradually called forth by the exigencies of the 

 growing plants. Lastly, you get free of the tank, hogshead 

 and watering cart, with all its appendages, and are no more 

 bothered with overflowing tank, or ovcrfermented liquid, with 

 weather imsuited to its application. You have merely to 

 shovel past the saturated charcoal, and shovel in a little fresh 

 stuff, and the process goes on again, while the prepared stuffs 

 lie ready for all crops, all seasons and all times." 



VALUE OF LIQUID MANURES. Tiie urine voided from a 

 single cow is considered in Flanders, where agricultural 

 practice has reached a high state of advancement, to be 

 worth 810 per annum. It furnishes 900 Ibs. of solid matter, 

 and at the price of $50 per ton, for which guano is frequently 

 sold, the urine of a cow for one year is worth $20. And 

 yet economical farmers will continue to waste urine and buy 

 guano ! " The urine of a cow for a year will manure 1 4 

 acres of land, and is more valuable than its dung, in the ratio 

 by bulk, of 7 to 6 ; and in real value as 2 to 1." Dana, 



