ANALYSES OP THE COTTON PLANT AND SEED. 199 



applied in winter, does not require to be thoroughly deconi' 

 posed, but when, as is the case on crops where it is applied 

 in the spring, and its elements are demanded immediately by 

 the young plants, its decomposition should be perfect. The 

 compost heap should be protected from the rains, in order to 

 prevent those salts rendered soluble by moisture, from being 

 washed away. It would add much to the value of compost 

 manure, if the water collecting on the roofs of farm buildings 

 was -carried in gutters entirely beyond the yard, and not al- 

 lowed to flow through it, which would be greatly facilitated 

 by a concentration of farm buildings. 



Every domestic animal if properly confined and quartered, 

 when not in use or grazing, would amply repay for the trouble 

 in attending to it, and the filth from the wash house, sterco- 

 rary, pig-pen, hen-house, and pigeon-cote, so much neglected 

 amongst us, would if properly hoarded, furnish most valuable 

 ingredients to the heap. A concentration of all that is essen- 

 tial to the production of our cultivated plants, being found in 

 the component parts of this fertilizer derivable from the 

 cereal food consumed by animals, and the phosphate and alka- 

 line properties of the weeds, grasses, &c., makes it at once 

 the best and cheapest form of applying vegetable and animal 

 manures for the immediate production of a crop, at the com- 

 mand of our planters. The quantity might be increased on 

 every plantation in the State, to a degree which would make 

 its manufacture profitable. This, however, will never be 

 done until fewer acres are planted, which will enable them to 

 manure more land. 



BONE MANURE. Bones, according to Berzilius, contain 

 55 per cent., of the phosphates of lime and magnesia. The 

 relative value of the bones of different animals varies in their 

 constituents, and also from the difference in age, their value 

 being increased with years. The bones upon every farm would 



