FERTILIZERS AND MANURES. 65 



Its value consists in part of certain volatile and soluble 

 substances, which, in the common mode of preserving 

 manure, are dissipated in the air or washed away by 

 heavy rains. In this climate it is necessary to shelter 

 manure from the sun and rain. All animal matter is 

 either directly or indirectly derived from vegetable sub- 

 stances; hence, every portion of the same that can be 

 rendered soluble is a valuable food for plants. Among 

 the most important animal substances employed as ma- 

 nures are urine, and dung of all kinds. The first of these 

 is almost invariably wasted, though in the case of the 

 cow, it is of more value than the solid excrements. It 

 should be carefully saved by bedding the yard and stables 

 with swamp muck, wood earth, or some other absorbent. 

 Urine is particularly rich in ammonia. This may be ab- 

 sorbed by the muck or by sprinkling the floor of stables 

 and the manure heap frequently with fine charcoal or 

 gypsum. This substance, sprinkled upon the floors of 

 stables, forms a compound like the urate of commerce, 

 so powerful that five hundred pounds will amply manure 

 an acre. If you can obtain no other absorbent, tan-bark 

 is not without its value, but the weeds, sweepings of 

 walks, and other refuse of the garden, particularly leaf- 

 mould and the dark top-soil of pastures, are to be pre- 

 ferred. Urine may be diluted with three times its bulk of 

 water and permitted to grow stale, and be applied at 

 night or in moist weather directly to the growing crops. 



The principal animal manures are those of the horse, 

 the hog, the cow, and the sheep. Of these horse manure 

 is most valuable in its fresh state. That of the hog comes 

 next, then that of the ox, while the cow is at the bottom 

 of the list, because most of the enriching substances in 

 her food go to the formation of milk, leaving the manure 

 comparatively weakened. The richer the food given to 

 animals, the more powerful is the manure. If animal 

 5 



