242 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JAN. 31, 1S4 4 



DANA'S PRIZE ESSAY ON MANURES. 



Second Skcond. 



Shovelling over the Compost Heap. 



The above remarks (Section 1st) may be called 



our compost heap. It must be well shovelled over. 



Yoii must, reader, before you cart it out and spread 



it, under:^tand well what this compost conlsius. 



Now just let me turn over a few shovels full, and 



fork oul the main points to which I wish to call 



your attention. 



1st. 'I hat all plants find in stable manure every 

 thinjj they want. 



2d. That stable manure consists of water, coal 

 and salts. 



3d. That tliese, water, coal, and salts, consist in 

 all plants of certain substances, in number (our- 

 tecn, which are called — I. Oxygen, 2. Hydrogen, 

 3. Nitrogen, 4. Carbon, 5. Sulphur, 0. Phosphorus, 

 7. Potash, 8. Soda, '.). Lime, 10. Magnesia, 11. Alu- 

 mina or clay, 12. Iron, VS. Manganese, 14. Chlo- 

 rine, which last, as we have said, forms about one- 

 half the weight of common salt. And if you al- 

 ways associate with the word chlorine, the fertiliz- 

 ing properties of common salt, you will, perhaps, 

 have OS good an idea of this substance as a farmer 

 need have, to understand the action of chlorine. 



4lh. These fourteen substances may be divided 

 into four classes : 1st, the airy or gases, oxygen, 

 hydrogen, nitrogen and chlorine. 2d, the combus- 

 tibles, carbon, sulphur, and phosphorus. 3d, llie 

 earths and metals, lime, clay, magnesia, iron and 

 manganese. 4lh, the alkalies, potash and snda. 



You may be surprised that I have not turned up 

 ammonia, but this exists in plants as hydrogen and 

 nitrogen. 



5th. The term salt includes a vast variety of 

 substances, formed of alkalies, earths and metals, 

 combined with acids. Fix well the meaning of 

 this term in your mind, and remember the distinc- 

 tion pointed out, that some salts are volatile, and 

 net quick in manure, and others are fixed and act 

 slower. 



Glh. When plants die or decay, they return to 

 the earth or air these fourteen substances. Those 

 returned to the earth from mould, which thus is 

 composed of carbon, salts and water, is natural 

 manure. 



7tli. Mould consists of two kinds, one of which 

 may bo, and the other cannot be, dissolved by wa- 

 ter. Alkalies put it into a state to be dissolved, 

 and in proportion as it is dissolved it becomes val- 

 uable as a manure. 



8th. If then manure contains only water, carbon, 

 and salts, any substance which affords similar pro- 

 ducts, may be substituted for it. Hence we come 

 to a division of manures into natural and artificial. 

 The consideration of these is the carting out and 

 spreading of our compost. And we shall first con- 

 sider in detail the natural manures. That is, 

 those which are furnished us by the dung and 

 urine of animals, and the manure or mould formed 

 by the decay of animal bodies or plants. These 

 are truly the natural manures, consisting of water, 

 mould, and salts. This is all that is found in cat- 

 tle dung. This being premised, wo may divide 

 maiiUres, reader, for your more convenient conside- 

 ration, not by their origin, but by thrir composi- 

 tion. We may divide manures into these three 

 classes : p"'irst, those consisting of vegetable or 

 animal matter, called mould: Secondly, those con- 

 sisting chiefly of salts ; and, thirdly, those consist- 



ing of a mixture of these two classes. And, be- 

 ginning with the last first, vie will now proceed to 

 their consideration. 



Section Third. 

 Carting out and Spreading. 

 The general chemical information set forth in 

 the preceding section, will be of no service to you, 

 reader, if it conducts you not beyond the result ar- 

 rived at in the close of the last section, that cattle 

 dung is composed of water, mould, and salts. 



You want to know what salts, and how they act. 

 If you understand this, you may be able to say be- 

 forehand, whether other things, supposing their na- 

 ture understood, can take the place of the mould 

 and salts. 



The mould, then, of cattle dung, as all other 

 mould, contains the followin;r su^jstances : 

 The water consists of oxygen and hydrogen. 

 The mould consists of carbon, oxygen, hydro- 

 gen, nitrogen and ammonia. 



Thus it is seen that the mould contains all the 

 substances found in the first class into which the 

 elements of plants were divided. The salts con- 

 tain the sulphur, phosphorus, and the carbon, as 

 sulphuric, phosphoric, and carbonic acids, and the 

 chlorine as muriatic acid or spirits of salt. 



The acids formed of the elements of the fourth 

 class of the substances entering into plants, are 

 combined with those of the second and third classes, 

 namely : the potash, soda, lime, clay, magnesia, 

 iron, and manganese. Here then we have all the 

 elements of plants, found in cattle dung. Let us 

 detail their several proportions. We have all that 

 plants need, distributed in cattle dung, as follows: 

 In 100 lbs. of cattle dung, ara 



Water, 83.60 



Mould, composed of hay, 14.10 



Bile and slime, 1.275 



Albumen, a substance like the white 



of an egg, .175 



Salts, silica, or sand, .14 



Potash, united to oil of vitriol, form- 

 ing a salt, .05 

 Potash, united to acid of mould, .07 

 Common salt, .08 

 Bone dust, or phosphate of lime, .23 

 Plaster of Paris, .12 

 Chalk, or carbonate of lime, .12 

 Magnesia, iron, manganese, clay, 

 united to the several acids above, .14 



100 



(To be continued.) 



Shun Avarice. — One of the most disagreeable 

 characters on earth, is that of the grasping, avari- 

 cious, penurious man. Generosity is perfectly 

 compatible with economy ; and the means which 

 enable some of our most noble-hearted, generous 

 men to do so much good to mankind, are obtained, 

 not by close-fisted penuriousness, but by economy. 

 The distance is not greater between the zenith and 

 the nadir, than between the covetous and the eco- 

 nomical man : the first banishes every just and 

 honorable feeling from the heart — the other fosters 

 and ministers to thein all. — Alb. Cult. 



A writer in the N. V. Farmer says that more 

 than half the bullocks ond sheep slaughtered in 

 New York, are unsound, or in some way diseased. 



WEBSTER ON SHEEP. 

 Jo. Sykes, of the New York Commercial, durin 

 his late sojourn at Marshfield, the favorite heallll 

 recruiting place of Air. Webster, paid a visit of i|i 

 spection to the sheep- fold, where, amongst tf 

 flock of sixty or a hundred Sonthdowns and Lc 

 cesters, he gained from the owner much valuab 

 information on the subject of sheep ond inntto 

 From a late letter containing the substance of th 

 experience, we make the following extracts. — Bo: 

 Trans. 



Mr. Webster commenced by remarking how li 

 tie the great mass of Americans cared for muttc 

 as food, while in England the people generally e 

 teem it the very best of butcher's meats. 



It is a maxim with English farmers that it 

 not only bad economy, but absolute waste, to e 

 poor meat, whether beef or mutton. Beingf at tl 

 house for some days of a very distinguished ge 

 tleman of the medical profession, he learned soin 

 thing about the age at which bullocks and she( 

 ought to be killed, in order to be superior for tl 

 table. To make the best beef, a bullock shou 

 not be slaughtered before it is at least five yea 

 old, and a sheep should not be killed before it 

 three. 



Mr. Webster added that although this was co 

 trary to the received opinion, he believed it w 

 nevertheless true, and lie wished all lovers of goi 

 beef and mutton to try it, and settle the matter ii 

 their own experience. 



Mr. Webster said the raising of sheep in Enii 

 land became an immense interest, and that mo 

 than fifty millions of fleeces were annually sho 

 in that country. In New England we are just b 

 ginning to estimate rightly its importance. O 

 climate differs from that of England inasmuch aso 

 Winters are more severe, and farmers are requin 

 to take this circumstance into the account. B 

 the great inquiry applicable with equal force 

 both countries is, " Hoiv can we manage our fart 

 to produce the largest crops, while at the san 

 lime we keep up the condition of the land at 

 place it if possible in a course of gradual iinprnv 

 ment ?" He could answer the question no wi 

 so satisfactorily as by saying, introduce the cxte 

 sive culture of the green crops, and with that, i 

 crease the number of the right breeds of she( 

 and cattle. 



In selecting sheep, reference should be had 

 their quality for early maturity, as well as f 

 yielding profitable fleeces. He says there are 

 England two principal classes of sheep, the lor 

 wooled and the short wooled. Among these tv 

 classes there are many varietie.s, and he describ( 

 the great variety of breeds which belong to v 

 rious countries, but he confined himself chiefly 

 those which tenant the British islands becau; 

 there they are brought to the greatest perfectio 

 and by crossing the breeds their original qualiti' 

 have been materially changed. He selected h 

 sheep .from the two famous bri^eds, the Leicest 

 and the South Downs. The former is the Ion; 

 wooled, though not as long as some, but finer, ai 

 the latter short-wooled. Both are remarkable f 

 the high flavor and good quality of their mutton. 



For New England, and indeed, said Mr Wei 

 ster, for the whole United States, there are no be 

 ter sheep than these. He also described the Tee 

 water sheep, a tall, clumsy animal : the Lincoli 

 shire sheep, with white faces, long, thin, and wet 

 carcases, thick, rough legs, large bones, thic 



