AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Aoricoltoral Wabehodbe.)— ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



L. XXII.l 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 20, 1843. 



tNo. la. 



N. E. FARMER. 



LIQUID MANURE. 



\ll siibstancps, wlielhrr oro-jinic, earthy, or sa- 

 ,', wliicli uro priipliiyrd to fcrlilizo llie .'ioil, or 

 ome tlie locd of pinnts, can only bo rendered 

 s service:ib!o to vcijetation when they are pre- 

 ted to the roots in solution, or in a fluid stale ; 

 i although this may at first appear rather a sweep- 

 position, yet such is the real fiict. Every at- 

 jpt "hich has been hitherto made to make plants 

 libe the most minutely divided powders which 

 rnistry can produce, has been entirely fruitless, 

 ^y ineffectually tried the finest impalpable pow- 

 of charcoal, and with nuioh perseverance I 

 e fruitlessly employed the earths, saline sub- 

 ices, and organic matters, for the same purpose, 

 reovcr, it has been unanswerably shown by 

 iy very accurate experiments, at the varied rep- 

 ion of which I have personally assisted, that 

 quantity of nourishment absorbed liy the roots 

 ilants, is always in proportion to the impurity 

 .he water with which they are nourished : thus 

 le beans, were made to vegetate under three 

 erent circumstances ; the first were grown in 

 tilled water ; the second were placed in sand 

 I watered with rain-water; the third were sown 

 garden mould. The plants thus produced, when 

 :uralely analyzed, were found to yield the fol- 

 ding proportions of ashes : 



1. 'i'hnse fed by distilled water, 3.9 



2. Those fed by rain-water, 7.5 

 13. Those grown in soil, 12.0 



And again, all attempts to make plants flourish 

 the pure earths, have utterly failed when they 

 ve been watered with pure water ; yet a totally 

 Ferent result I have invariably experienced when 

 lave employed an impure solution or liquid ma- 

 re. My trials liave been entirely supported by 

 )se of M. fiiobert, who, having formed of the 

 ir earth."!, silica, alumina, lime, and magnesia, a 

 il in the most fertile proportion, in vain essayed 

 make the plants flourish in it when watered with 

 re water only ; but every difficulty was removed 

 len he moistened it with the water from a dung- 

 I, for they then grew most luxuriantly. 

 The employment of artificially prepared liquid 

 inure is very extensive on the continent. They 

 epare il throughout many of the German States, 

 d in the Netherlands, by sweeping the cxcre- 

 jnts of their stall-fed catllo into under-ground 

 servoirs, mixing it with four or five times its bulk 

 water, according to the richness of the dung; 

 e reservoirs are generally employed, of such a 

 Le that they each take a week to fill ; and thus 

 ch has four weeks allowed to ferment before the 

 ass, which in this time becomes of an uniform 

 insistence, is removed, by means of a portable 

 imp, into water-carts, or large open vessels, and 

 stributed over the fields by being let into a trans- 

 :rse trough, pierced with holes ; or the Flemish 

 an may be adopted (especially when the manure 

 of too considerable thickness to flow readily 

 irough the hole?,) of taking it into the fields in 



the water-carts, open at the top, (furnished with 

 slight movable covers,) and then distributing it out 

 of the cart very evenly by means of a scoop; and 

 r have invariably perceived the advantage of plow- 

 ing tiie liquid into the soil as soon after it was 

 spread on the land as possible. 



" All urine," said a late distinguished chemical 

 philosopher, " contains the essential elements of 

 vegetables in a Slate of solution." By a careful 

 analysis, human urine, in its fresh state, was found 

 by Berzelius, to contain the following substances : 

 Water, 9:i.300 



Urea (the peculiar animal matter of urine) .TOIO 

 Sulphate of potassa, 0.371 



Sulphate of soda, 0.31(1 



Phosphate of soda, 294 



Common salt, 0.44.) 



Phosphate of ammonia, 0.16.5 



Muriate of ammonia, 0.1.50 



Acetate of ammonia, acetic acid, and ani- 

 mal matter soluble in alcohol, 1.714 

 Earthy pliosphale (earth of bones) with flu- 

 ate of lime, 0.100 

 Uric acid, O.IOO 

 Mucus of the bladder, 0.032 

 Silica (earth of flint,) 0.003 



100. 

 Thus it will be seen that tliere is hardly a sin- 

 gle ingredient found in urine which is not either a 

 direct food for vegetation, or furnishes by its de- 

 composition, a supply in another form. 



The urine of the horse is nearly as rich in ani- 

 mo-vegetable matters ; its composition, according 

 to the experiments of Fourcroy and Vauquelin, is 

 as follows : 



Water and mucus, 94.0 



Urea, 0.7 



Carbonate of lime (chalk) l.I 



Carbonate of soda, 0.9 



Benzoate of soda, 2.4 



Muriate of potassa, 0.9 



100. 

 The following are the constituents of the urine 

 of the cow, as found by Professor Brande : 



Water, C5.0 



Urea, 40 



Phosphate of lime, 3.0 



Muriates of potassa and ammonia, 15.0 



Sulphate of potassa, 6.0 



Carbonates of potassa and aipjnonia, 4.0 



Loss, 3.0 



100. 

 In some experiments by Mr Gregory, at Leyton, 

 who watered half a grass field with urine, the por- 

 tion thus treated yielded nearly double the quanti- 

 ty of hay produced by the unmanured portion ; and 

 the use of the urine of the cow, so extensively em- 

 ployed for grass lands by Mr Harley, in the neigh- 

 borhood of Glasgow, was attended with results 

 equally satisfactory, producing, when diluted with 

 water or soap-suds, very superior crops. 



I hove often employed, with decided efl^oct, in 

 my own garden, for vines, peach, and standard ap- 

 ple trees, liquid manure, prepared either by mixin" 

 one part of cow dung with four parts of water, or 

 the collected drainage of the stable and cowhouse. 

 Of these, the vine is by far the most benefited by 

 the application ; but to whatever fruit tree the gar- 

 dener has to apply manure, there is no form so 

 manageable and so grateful to the plant as the 

 liquid. — Johnson's Fur. Encydop. 



A Valuable Horse. — The Worcester Mgla states 

 that Mr George Whitney, of Royalston, a public 

 carrier, is the owner of a horse which has been 

 driven in a large team, for twelve years, between 

 tiiat place and Beston. The average number of 

 trips has been forty per annum ; the distance over 

 the road each way being seventy miles. The 

 amount of travel, therefore, has been fiflysix hun- 

 dred miles a year, or sixtyseven thousand two hun- 

 dred in the twelve years. The average draft of 

 the animal, exclusive of his proportion of the freight 

 wagon, is stated low at fifteen hundred pounds, 

 making seven hundred and twenty tons in the 

 twelve years. The rates for carrying upon that 

 route have never been less than ten dollars per 

 ton, making the earnings of the horse, in the whole 

 period mentioned, amount to the sum of $7,000. 

 Deduct (he expenses of the animal, which are es- 

 timated high at 137 bushels of corn each year, or 

 in the whole time 1644 bushels, which, at one dol- 

 lar per bushel, would cost ,$1644 ; for hay and 

 shoeing, $100, each year, or $1200 altogether — the 

 sum total expended upon this horse — for he has 

 never had a sick day — has not exceeded .$2844 ia 

 twelve years. This leaves a net profit out of his 

 earnings to his owner, of $4-3.56. The horse, hav- 

 ing never lost a trip nor refused to eat his allow- 

 ance, is now in good condition, and not yet "of 

 age." The sum of $1,50 was recently offered for 

 him, but was rejected. 



Spavins in Horses. — There are three sorts of 

 spavins. First, the bone spavin : this is a bony 

 excrescnco formed in the joint, which impedes the 

 motion of the joint, and is seldom curable. Sec- 

 ondly, the wind spavin : it commonly comes in the 

 horse's ham. Prick the swelling with a phlegm 

 knife, but take especial care not to injure the ner- 

 vous cords, for this will often bring on the lock- 

 jaw. Upon opening tiie swelling, you will often 

 find a gelatinous humor to issue from the opening; 

 apply a turoip poultice for a i'cw days, to draw out 

 tlio humor ; then strengthen the part by bathing il 

 with brandy. 



Thirdly, the blood spavin. The coats of the 

 vein being ruptured, the blood extravasates, and 

 forms a protuberance in the vein. 



Cure. — Take up the vein with a crooked needle, 

 and tie it above the swelling; then let blood be- 

 low it, and apply cow. dung fried in goose grease 

 and vinegar by way of poultice. — Stkded. 



For poison by ivy, apply weak solutions of pot- 

 ash or pearlash. 



