102 TALKS OX MANURES. 



"There may be sorno truth in this," said I, "and yet I will 

 hazard the prediction that in no other branch of agriculture shall 

 we witness a more decided improvement during the next twenty- 

 five years than on farms largely devoted to the dairy. Grain-grow- 

 ing farmers, like our friend the Deacon, here, who sells his grain 

 and never brings home a load of manure, and rarely buy?, even ;\ 

 ton of bran to feed to stock, and who sells more or less hay, must 

 certainly be impoverishing their soils of phosphates much more 

 rapidly than the dairyman who consumes nearly all his produce 

 on the farm, and sells little except milk, butter, cheese, young 

 calves, and old cows." 



"Bones had a wonderful effect," said the Doctor, "on the old 

 pastures in the dairy district of Cheshire in England." 



" Undoubtedly," I replied, "and so they will here, and so would 

 well-rotted manure. There is nothing in this fact to prove that 

 dairying specially robs the soil of phosphates. It is not phosphates 

 that the dairyman needs so much as richer manure." 



" What would you add to the manure to make it richer?" asked 

 the Doctor. 



"Nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potaah," I repli 



" But how ? " asked the Deacon. 



" I suppose," said the Doctor, " by buying guano and the German 

 potash salts." 



" That would be a good plan," said I ; " but I would do it by buy- 

 ing bran, mill-feed, brewer's-grains, malt-combs, corn-meal, oil- 

 cake, or whatever was best and cheapest in proportion to value. 

 Bran or mill-feed can often be bought at a price at which it will pay 

 to use it freely for manure. A few tons of bran worked into a 

 pile of cow-dung would warm it up and add considerably to its 

 value. It would supply the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, 

 in which ordinary manure is deficient. In short, it would convert 

 poor manure into rich manure." 



" Well, well," exclaimed the Deacon, " I knew you talked of mix- 

 ing dried-blood and bone-dust with your manure, but I did not 

 think you would advocate anything quite so extravagant as taking 

 good, wholesome bran and spout-feed and throwing it on to your 

 manure-pile." 



" Why, Deacon," said I, "we do it every day. I am putting 

 about a ton of spout-feed, malt-combs and corn-meal each week 

 into my manure-pile, and that is the reason why it ferments so 

 readily even in the winter. It converts my poor manure into good, 

 rich, well-decomposed dung, one load of which is worth three loads 

 of your long, strawy manure." 



