A WORD ABOUT MANURES, 301 



mer, it is a bed of power. In it are contained the yellow 

 grain and the luscious fruit; over it hovers the spirit of the 

 rose and the lily, and sweet odors are stored in it, to make 

 the fragrant pink and the delicious heliotrope. Let every 

 consideration of economy and enterprise, stimulate the far- 

 mer, then, to save every waste of the farm. The Chinese 

 are so sensible of the importance of manure, in a country 

 teeming with an over-population, where the soil is tasked 

 to its utmost to carry its population, they even save the 

 parings of their finger and toe nails to add to its fertility. 

 The farmer has a wonderful bank to draw upon for this 

 purpose. Cattle and horse dung and urine, the scrapings 

 of the barn-yard after every rain, straw, stalks, leaves of 

 the forest, drifts on the banks of streams, all contrib- 

 ute their share in the general enrichment of the farm. 

 And any one would be surprised at the amount accumula- 

 ted for the spring scattering, if systematically carried on 

 for one year, It requires but a little time too, if a regular 

 time be given to it. Regularity and system are the great 

 watch wards of improvement. 



Millions of dollars are annually wasted, by burning ^traw 

 and stalks, which, if carried to the stables and barn-yard, 

 would act as solvents, to catch this daily waste. If the 

 ashes, resulting from the burning straw, were as good ma- 

 nure as the straw itself, then burning would not be waste- 

 ful. But a large amount of valuable matter goes into the 

 air as gases, besides much is blown away by the winds. A 

 Mr. Lawes, of England, determined this matter of burning 

 manure in an experiment, that was both fair and positive. 

 He took 28 tons of yard manure and divided it; 14 tons 

 were reduced by fire, leaving 32 cwt. of ashes. He then 

 scattered the 14 tons of manure left, on one acre of land, 

 and the 32 cwt. of ashes on another acre of land, and left 

 another acre without any application. He cultivated them 

 all well and alike. 



The manured acre made 22 bushels of wheat, the ashed 



