DUN 



[ 346 ] 



DUN 



From the experiments of M. Schub- 

 ler and otbers, the relative value of 

 night-soil is as follows : 



" If a given quantity of the land 

 sown without manure yields three 

 times the seed employed, then the 

 same quantity of land will produce five 

 times the quantity sown when manured 

 with old herbage, putrid grass or leaves, 

 garden stuff, c. ; seven times with 

 cow-dung, nine times with pigeon's- 

 dung, ten times with horse-dung, twelve 

 times with human urine, twelve times 

 with goafs-dung, twelve times with 

 sheep's-dung, and fourteen times with 

 human manure, or bullock's blood. 

 But if the land be of such quality as 

 to produce without manure live times 

 the sown quantity, then the horse-dung 

 manure will yield fourteen, and human 

 manure nineteen and two-thirds the 

 sown quantity." 



Fowl-dung, if composed partly of that 

 of the duck, which is a gross feeder, is 

 nearly equal to guano. This, and that 

 of the pigeon contain much ammonia, 

 and all abound in phosphate of lime, 

 mixed with decomposing organic mat- 

 ters and uric acid, all highly valuable 

 as fertilizers. 



Stable or Farm-yard Dung is usually 

 composed of the following matters : 

 Horse-urine. Water and mucus, 94 ; 

 carbonate of lime, 1.1 ; carbonate of 

 soda, 0.9; hippurate of soda, 2.4: chlo- 

 ride of potassium, 0.9 ; urea, 0.7. But 

 besides the above, it contains common 

 salt, phosphate of lime, and sulphate 

 of soda. Cow-urine. Water, 66 ; phos- 

 phate of lime, 8 ; chloride of potassium, 

 and sal ammoniac, 15 ; 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 

 quantity of the dry straw of barley 

 yielded forty-two parts of ashes. The 

 portion dissipated by the fire would be 

 principally carbon (charcoal), carbu- 

 retted hydrogen gas, and water ; one 

 hundred parts of these ashes are com- 

 posed of Various soluble salts, prin- 

 cipally carbonate and sulphate of pot- 

 ash, 22$ ; phosphate of lime (earthy 

 salt of bones), 6$ ; ckalk (carbonate | 



of lime), 1 ; silica (flint), 61; metal- 

 lic 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, 

 according to the analysis of M. Zierl, 

 in 1000 parts : Water, 698 ; picromel 

 and salts, 20 ; bilious and extractive 

 matter, 17 ; green matter, albumen, 

 mucus, etc., 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 Car- 

 bonate, sulphate, and muriate of soda, 

 5 ; carbonate and phosphate of lime, 

 9 ; silica, 46. Jo-urn . Hoy. Agr. Soc., 

 vol. i., p. 489. 



There have been many arguments 

 and much difference of opinion among 

 cultivators 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 ex- 

 tremes the one side contending for the 

 propriety of employing it quite fresh 

 from the farm -yard, the other contend- 

 ing that it cannot well be too decayed. 



The mode employed by Lord Leices- 

 ter is the medium between these equally 

 erroneous extremes. He found that 

 the employment of the fresh dung 

 certainly made the dung go much far- 

 ther, 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 farmers), and 

 hence the seeds are destroyed by the 

 effects of the putrefaction, and the 

 dung still extends much farther than 

 if suffered to remain until quite pu- 

 trefied. Putrefaction cannot go on 

 without the presence of moisture. 

 Where water is entirely absent, there 

 can be no putrefaction ; and hence 

 many farmers have adopted the prac- 

 tice of pumping the drainage of their 

 farm -yards over their dung heaps; 

 others invariably place them in a low 

 dranp situation. This liquid portion 

 cannot be too highly valued by the cul- 

 tivator. The soil where a dunghill has 



