NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLI.^HEU BY THOMAS W. SHEPARU, IIOGERS' BUILDINGS, CONGRESS STREE'J', (KOLFRTH DOOR 1 ROM STATE STREET.) 



OL, 



. L 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, MAY 10, 1823. 



No. 41; 



SAVING AND MAKING THE MOST OF MA- 

 NURE. — BY TBE EDITOK. 



(Continued from page 28i;.) 



ON COMP0ST.S. 



: was well observed by nn English writer, 

 ; " the common waj- of spreading unmixed 

 g over land, be it arable, pasture or mowing, 

 by no means answer the end ; for the ferti- 

 ig particles of dung being of a volatile na- 

 \, are readily exhausted by the action of the 

 and air. Most people think if they have 

 w enough^ all is well, and vegetation cannot 

 of goiny; on. This is especially the case in 

 repairing of worn out grounds. But with 



I we can by no means agree. Dung ought to 

 onsiJcrcd no more than a gooil ingredient to 

 with earth and other sorts of compost.'''' In- 

 i we have heard it asserted by an experi- 

 id agriculturist that he actually nearly de- 

 yed his grass in a mowing lot by spreading 

 the soil in the spring a quantity of fresh 

 ^ taken from his pi*-stye. " The dung,'' 

 laid, " was of too hot a nature, and caused 



turf to be so scorched by the sun that the 

 s was burnt up.'' it is true that fresh ani- 

 dung, applied to plough-land, does not often 

 luce so bad an efiect. But the manure in this 

 , by mixing with the soil, forms a sort of 

 post, and the dung is diluted with earth. 



we hear farmers complain, in dry seasons, 



their dung does more hartn than good, by 

 easing the effects of the drought. But if it 

 e well mixed before it was applied to the 



with two or three times its bulk of earth, 

 ould preserve against the drought instead of 

 easing it. A plant will no better grow on 

 jck-heap than on a sand-heap, and in some 

 s pure sand would be a better application 

 icrease the fertility of a soil than unmixed 



"^e have seen many directions for making 



posts, but have no recollection of any thing 



e perspicuous, and at the same time more 



prebensive, than the following from Sir 



a Sinclair's Code of Agriculture. 



The utility of composts has been prored by 



experience of numbers, in various districts. 



; subject may be considered under the fol- 



ing heads : 1. The materials used ; 2d. The 



i or crops to which it should be applied ; 



I 3. The etfects produced. 



1. Materials. — Unslacked lime, Snd earth of 



jrent sorts, are the substances used. Quick 



is the proper stimulus for bringing the 



leers of a compost into action ; operating up- 



lla heap of earth in some degree as yeast 



lis upon a quantitj' of flour or meal. Enough 



Hht to be applied to excite a species of fer- 



Bitation in the heap, and to neutralize anv 



""liiious mineral substances which may exist 



i lie formation and conveyance of compost 

 nig attended with much expense, where cir- 

 kistances will admit of it, horses, instead of 

 Biual labor, ought to be empli^vf 1 in the prn- 

 Ni of preparation, and the compost should be 

 fipared in the field to which it is afterwards 

 Icie applied. 



" It has been ascertained by a number of ex- 

 periments, that two bushels of nnslacked lime 

 are suflicient for each cubic yard of a medium 

 quality, and as 80 cubic yards of earth are sulli- 

 cient to manure an acre, 160 bushels of unslack- 

 ed lime is the quantity required.* To obtain 

 tills quantity of earth it is the practice of some 

 farmers to plough the head ridges of both ends 

 of the field, ten inches deep, and to collect one 

 half of this, which can often bo spared without 

 anv loss, as the head ridges are generally too 

 high, in consequence of the earth accumulated 

 in the course of years, from the plough being 

 cleared every time it turns. It has been calcu- 

 lated that where a hedge ridge is eighteen feet 

 broad, 72 feet of it in length, ploughed ten in- 

 ches deep, will produce 10 cubic yards of earth, 

 and consequently the two head ridges will pro- 

 duce CO cubic yards of compost for the field to 

 be manured. 



" Composts are frequently made of various 

 mntcrialsj as several sorts of earth, lime, old 

 mortar and plaster, green vegetables before 

 they run to seed, tanner's bark, sawdust^ soap 

 ashes, dung, &c. It is recommended that in- 

 stead of being- laid in regular layers, they should 

 be mixed as much as possible in forming the 

 heap. A fermentation is soon excited, and the 

 oftcncr the heap is turned so much the more 

 will fermentation be promoted,! 



2. " Composts are peculiarly well calculated 

 for grass-lands, and ought to supersede the of- 

 fensive and wasteful practice of laying putres- 

 cent matter on the surface of the soil, by which 

 a very large proportion of its most valuable 

 Component parts is lost in the atmosphere. — 

 They are likewise of great use to moorish 

 lands, augmenting their staple, and adding to 

 them a number of valuable and enriching sub- 

 stances. In regard to sandy or clayey soils, 

 composts, principally consisting of articles dif- 

 ferent from their general nature respectively, 

 wil. improve their texture and convert them 

 into loams. 



3. " The effects of composts are highly satis- 

 factory. In regard to grass-lands experience 

 has shown that they at once improte their qua- 

 lity, and check, for years, the progress of moss, 

 or 2ven unprofitable gras»esi In thin moorish 



* Composts, liowerer, may be made with less lime, 

 or without any lime, as will appear hereafter. And 

 when quick lime and dung; are used, a layer of earth 

 should be interposed between those two substances, for 

 lime, if mixed with dung-, in the first sta»c of its putre- 

 faction corrodes and dissipates its effluvia, and your 

 manure may thus be consumed with but little more 

 advantage than if it were burnt with fire. It appears 

 that lime is a useful material, if used with hog-yard 

 and slaughter-yard manure. See the statement of Col. 

 '•'aleniin'-'s mode of cultivating Indian corn, No, 2'i, 

 page 176, 



t It is doubted, however, whether there is much ad- 

 vantage to be derived from often stirring a compost 

 heap. Every time it is turned over, a quantity of gas, 

 which composes the essence of the manure, will escape. 

 •Mr. Bordley says, '■ often turning the compost may 

 weaken it as a manure, and even check its fcrmtnt- 

 i ig." .And Sir John Sinclair, himself, says (Code of 

 \griculture, pp. 196, 197,) "•The old practice of/re- 

 qufu'.ly stirring, turning and mixing the dung, without 

 in general even covering the heap with earth when it 

 was turned, ia now very properly laid asidej" 



soils, composts, prnporly and repeatedly appli- 

 ed, alter the nature of the soil ; it becomes 

 more fertile, retains its moisture better, and 

 does not suffer by the summer's drought, which 

 would otherwise burn up the crops. 



" It is a circumstance not to be omitted, that 

 lime will operate in compost, upon lands that 

 have been exhausted by the over frequent or 

 too abundant ap[ilication of lime or marl, evert 

 where it had not succeeded when used by itself. 

 This is a strong recommendation of such mixed 

 manure, as land may thus be cultivated to ad- 

 vantage, that would otherwise remain unpro- 

 ductive." 



A good compost rnay be ttiade simply by a 

 mixture of surface mould and barn yard dung, 

 without any particular rules for the quantity of 

 each. Sometimes two parts of dung are used 

 t'or one of earth; sometimes they are mixed in 

 equal quantities, audit is not uncommon to com- 

 pound two parts of earth with one of dung. — 

 The use of the earth is to imbibe the gas or 

 effluvia arising from the dung, while it is de- 

 caying and putrescent. " The only error, into 

 which the farmer can run, is to supply such an 

 inconsiderable i|uantity of earth as will be in- 

 capable of imbi!)ing the elastic and volatile par- 

 ticles, and thus by his own mismanagement oc- 

 casions a waste of vegetable aliment. One cart 

 load of soil to two of stable dung is the least 

 proportion which he should ever attempt to 

 combine, and perhaps if the two were mixed 

 equally, he would be compensated for the addi- 

 tional labor and expense. 



" The whole art of composting, is to arrange 

 the materials in alternate layers, — lo shake up 

 the Utter and dung with a hay fork that it may 

 lie loosely, — to cover the top and the sides with 

 earth, and to give it a sloping iirection that it 

 may cast off excessive moi.sture. Its height 

 should never exceed four feet, or lour and an 

 half; and its breadth should be such ti.ii a man 

 on either side may be enabled lo fling 'he in- 

 gredients into the centre without tramplin» on 

 'he heap; for compression in all cases retails 

 the putrefactive process. If the mass, after be- 

 ing compounded, is long in generating heat, 

 urine, salt water, or even fresh water poured 

 on the top slowly, that it may ooze downward, 

 will bring it on with rapidity. On the other 

 hand, should the process advance with too great 

 violence, which can always be known by keep- 

 ing a stick ill the middle, anjfdrawing it out 

 occasionally for trial, 

 restrained by turning 



mixing anew the ingredients. This will not 

 only put a stop to the mischief, but facilitate a 

 second fermentation ; and as fresh particles of 

 earth will be brought into contact with the de- 

 composing matter, the whole will be enriched 

 and impregnated with the fertilizing principles. 

 These general views are applicable to every 

 species of compost. 



" Simple earth, although excellent for bot- 

 toming and strewing over the pit dug near the 

 barn, is of all materials the most unprofitable 

 In compost dung-hills. When free 'Vom all for- 

 i?i<»u ml.^cture, it con(;'.ms nothing on wliich the 

 fermenting process can operate, il brings no 



1 ai\va\s ue ivuuivii uy Keep- 

 middle, and^drawing it out 

 1, the fed^ntation must be 

 ng over the dung-hill, and 



