DUN 



[ 311 ] 



DUN 



phate of lime, and sulphate of soda. 

 Cow-urine. Water, 66 ; phosphate of 

 lime, 3 ; chloride of potassium, and sal 

 ammoniac, J5; sulphate of potash, 6; 

 carbonate of potash and carbonate of 

 ammonia, 4 ; urea, 4. 



One thousand parts of dry wheat-straw 

 being burnt, yielded M. Saussure forty- 

 eight parts of ashes; the same quan- 

 tity of the dry straw of barley yielded 

 forty-two parts of ashes. The portion dis- 

 sipated by the fire would be principally 

 carbon (charcoal), carburetted hydrogen 

 gas, and water ; one hundred parts of 

 these ashes are composed of Various 

 soluble salts, principally carbonate and 

 sulphate of potash, 22; phosphate of 

 lime (eaithy salt of bones), 6$; chalk 

 (carbonate of lime), 1 ; silica (flint), 

 01J; metallic oxide (principally iron), 

 1 ; loss, 7 4.5ths. The straw of barley 

 contains the same ingredients, only in 

 rather different proportions. 



The solid excrements of a horse fed 

 on hay, oats, and straw, contain, accord- 

 ing to the analysis of M. Zierl, in 1000 

 parts. Water, 698; picromel and salts, 

 20; bilious and extractive matter, 17; 

 green matter, albumen, mucus, &c., 63 ; 

 vegetable fibre and remains of food, 202. 



These, when burnt, yielded to the same 

 chemist sixty parts by weight of ashes, 

 which were composed of Carbonate, 

 sulphate, and muriate of soda, 5 ; carbo- 

 nate and phosphate of lime, 9; silica, 46. 

 Jour. Roy. Ayr. Soc., vol. 1, p. 489. 



There have been many arguments and 

 much difference of opinion among cul- 

 tivators with regard to the advantage of 

 employing dung in a fresh or in a putrid 

 state, and, as is too often the case, both 

 parties have run into extremes the one 

 side contending for the propriety of em- 

 ploying it quite fresh from the farm-yard, 

 the other contending that it cannot well 

 be too decayed. 



The mode employed by Lord Leicester 

 is the medium between these equally 

 erroneous extremes. He found that 

 the employment of the fresh dung cer- 

 tainly made the dung go much farther, 

 but then a multitude of the seeds of 

 various weeds were carried on to the 

 land along with the manure. He has, 

 therefore, since used his compost when 

 only in a half-putrefied state (called 

 short dung by iarmers), and hence 

 the seeds are destroyed by the effects 

 of the putrefaction, and the dung still 



.Y tends much farther than if suf- 

 fered to remain until quite putrefied. 

 Putrefaction cannot go on without the 

 presence of moisture. Where water is 

 entirely absent, there can be no putre- 

 faction ; and hence many farmers have 

 adopted the practice of pumping the 

 drainage of their farm-yards over their 

 dung-heaps ; others invariably place them 

 in a low, damp situation. This liquid 

 portion cannot be too highly valued by 

 the cultivator. The soil where a- dung- 

 hill has lain in a field is always dis- 

 tinguished by a rank luxuriance in the 

 succeeding crop, even if the earth be- 

 neath to the depth of six inches is re- 

 moved and spread with the dunghill. 



Guano. This now celebrated manure 

 has been known as the chief fertilizer 

 employed by the Peruvians, almost as 

 long as that part of the New World has 

 been recognised by geographers. Its 

 name, in the language of that country, 

 signifies the manure ; and it merits such 

 distinction, as being one of the most 

 powerful assistants to vegetation which 

 can be applied to the soil. Guano is not 

 peculiar to Peru, but is found in immense 

 beds upon many rocks and islands of 

 the Atlantic, being the excrements of 

 the marine birds frequenting those ocean 

 solitudes. It has been lately analyzed 

 by Dr. Ure, who reports it as composed 

 of the folio wing proportional constituents : 

 Azotized organic matter, including urate 

 of ammonia, and capable of affording 

 from 8 to 17 per cent, of ammonia by 

 slow decomposition in the soil, 50.0 ; 

 water, 11.0; phosphate of lime, 25.0; 

 ammonia, phosphate of magnesia, phos- 

 phate of ammonia, and oxalate of am- 

 monia, containing from 4 to 9 per cent, 

 of ammonia, 13.0 ; siliceous matter, 1.0. 



This analysis explains the source from 

 whence failure has been derived to many 

 who have tried it. It is the most 

 violently stimulating of all the known 

 natural manures, and they have applied 

 it too abundantly. This is shown by the 

 experiments of Mr. Maund. When ap- 

 plied to Strawberries once a week in a 

 liquid state (four ounces to a gallon ), it 

 made them very vigorous and productive; 

 but sprinkled upon some young seedlings 

 of the same fruit, it killed them. Two 

 ounces per yard (five cwt. per acre), were 

 sprinkled over Onions, and they doubled 

 the untreated in size. Potatoes, manured 

 with one ounce and a half per yard, were 



