

■RPMPMMMHH ...,-.- — 





6 



THE AflRTCULTURAL GAZETTE. 



Solid ex now t wan u ground direct to 



t wbifVthe manufacture oi manu»(M II n»J 



I'., lay down iliy AM I !aIi 

 ng depot, would be inju- 



th 



b» termed) is fcO take (lace. 



>r the cotmtrtielioo of erery du 



dkiouft But, t war of illustration, I shall suppo* » 



ewe, Mid MfOBW it to be formed where the ground is 



I, *nd at » lower eteva a than the •tewlm*. I nder 



•och circua*aoce», i would excavate a space sufficiently 



lugg 10 admit of it hoidfcg a half more tagW 



what can potrfbly 



v, d) or any other decaying vegetable substances 

 may be all set wide for the same end, as one or 

 two > rood soakings of the urine will soon extinguish 



* it has. The process of 



In the first 



tendency 



few 



remarks. 



any vegetating 



manufacture requires 



instance, the bottom of the depot receives a covering 



of from 12 to 16" inches of the absorbent, and as the 

 vres and stables are emptied, and the dung from each 



mor* "— a i Properly mixed and spread, a thin covering of the ab- 



- v f r one half sorbent is given, and then the whole saturated with the 





3 to 41 fWt or more. On three sides a retaining wall, 

 tad at one end the outlet, i m* * gradual slope as 

 to allow of well laden carts being taken out If the soil 

 is retentive, little provision need be made for preventing 

 the liquid oozing from the dung escaping ; but if porous, 

 the retaining walls should receive one foot of clay puddle 

 id the build the bottom of the depot should be 



covered with a similar thickneae of the nme material, 

 and . ■ the top of the latter, one foot of well broken 

 road metal, to give solidity for cartage. A very simple 

 plan for all in; fche horses to get out with ease, is to 

 lay a tramway of flat stories. This, I may say, completes 

 the formation, unless the preferable mode of having a 

 covered dip it is adopted, which in passing, I may 

 remark, is likely re long, to be consider* an essential 

 building hff evrry farm. So far, therefore, for the re- 

 ception of the solid manor- i .hall now state what 

 i p pears to me a simple procesa for corive j trig the liquid 

 portion to the depot ; and 1 am glad to say the old and 

 expensive mode of constructing drains of mason work 

 may be entirely supcrt* 1 by the use of circular clay 

 j p»*, 3 feet Ion with spigot and faucet joints, made 



to any bore, from \ to 3 inch will, I think, 1 found 



s tfflctent for such a purpose as I am speaking of. At 

 the extremity of each i tense when- live stock is kept, or 

 any other mor itcntspot, where the liquid will 



and other cattle, not only from the effects of the atmo- 

 sphere, but also for absorbing the liquid which the same 

 could not otherwise retain. Such being the case, the 

 quantitv of absorbent used must be so far regulated by 

 the liquid at command. The mass goes on thus increas- 

 ing, until it is either turned over to be applied directly 

 toland, or carted away to be stored for after use. When 

 the latter takes place, I would recommend that the 

 bottom of the stance where it is intended to be laid, 

 should receive a covering of earth or of what is in gene- 

 ral used for absorbing the urine, and then if manure 

 lias been accumulating in boxes, or carts, or piggeries, 

 let it be regularly mixed with what is led out from 

 the depot, layer about. When manure is intended 

 to ream any time in middens on the fields, it is always 

 desirable to have it carted upon them while these are 

 forming ; this prevents premature decomposition, but 

 often this is not practicable, from its being so far de- 

 cayed, botef removal from the steading. It should, how- 

 ever, whether carted or not, have the sides and top well 

 covered with some earthy substance to preserve it from 

 the action of the atmosphere. 



On the application of Manure. — Dung, when applied to 

 land to bo immediately sown or planted, should in- 

 variably be in a state to afford instant food to the plants, 

 or, in other words, well rotted. When applied to land 

 readil run « SS will as at the lowest point of every not to be sown or planted for several months afterwards, 

 yard and part of the steading, where the liquid worth little previous decomposition is necessary, that had 



better take place in the soil itself ; and the land will 

 wo? more freely in the spring when it does so. At 

 whatever time, or for whatever purpose, it is applied, it 

 ought to be well soaked with urine previous to being 

 driven out ; or in the absence of urine, common water 

 may be used, and the less time that elapses between 

 filling at the dung heap, and covering it with the plough, 

 the greater will be its effect, and particularly when put 

 into the drill in spring, the Turnips never fail to braird 

 well, and the Potatoes withstand drought better. I 

 have found much benefit result from attention to these 

 rules. I have an idea which I propose acting upon, 

 having tried it already on a limited scale, of raising my 

 Turnip crop entirely with portable manures, but before 

 sowing my Barley and Wheat, to give a proportion of 

 farm-yard manure. My opinion is, that by being a 

 little liberal with the portable manures, I can raise a 

 sufficiently bulky crop of Turnips, and by applying 

 the farm-yard manure after these are either eaten, in 

 whole or in part, by sheep, 



p rving accumulate*, there may be formed a small 

 ccsif I, say from 2 to 2 feet square, and about 



in elite deep and wl h may even be made bj link- 

 1 birring barrels (costing from l .hl. to la) puddled 

 round the sides with iv,and the bottom embedded in it : 

 the tops of tl»«e cesspools kept sufficiently below the level 

 jf the ad jng turface as to admit of a stout Hag with 

 \i {ratitg on hinges, in its centre, first to admit the 

 hqui and m idly to provide for the cesspool being 

 «nj dofany sediment, which, when attended to, no dan- 

 |er exists of the pipes siltii up. When such a distance 

 nwnl the top of the cecep a* will admit of a sufficient 

 eoveru for the pipes, a hole h made to admit one end 

 of the circular pipes, which are laid to connect these 



d ercnt tanks (as thev may be called), togetl 

 ultimately discharging from the one, on the low 



icr, and 



est lev. 1 

 y lo inches 



into a trough, which may be made of wood, 



, sloped t inches at the top, placed at the side 

 Cf fee dung d »t, equidistant from each eud of it wh< 

 taken lengthways, and sufficiently long to admit of the 



niint being scooped out m my part of tlie accunui . 



latang mast, the latter having likewise an overflow pipe 

 unto the manure tank or li ud voter ir, as also there 

 beta| a com , between the lowest pan of tl dun* 



depot and the manure tank, which can bo ooened or cut 



on at pleasure. I 

 /nan u r 



_ or removed entirely, 

 I [will ensure better Grass and succeeding crops, in 



pened or cu 

 already mentioned that the liquid 

 from the cattle kept in houses should not be 

 showed to mix in the first instance with their solid 

 ejtcrement I shall briefly explain how this maybe 



S / b ° at » 2 ? ,nches from 4he g^r ^hhvi the 

 Cattlt, and parallel to it, Jet a continuous opening be 



JSSde, extending right across the different catdV stances, 

 SuScientiy deep at first, to admit some inches of clav 



the rotation 



under these 



former 



of 



of course, apportioning the 



different 



dung 

 systems accordingly. My 

 practice has been to give the proportion 

 farm- yard manure, viz., 20 tons, in plough- 

 ing over the stubble, adding in addition in 

 spring, upon sowing my Turnips, 5 cwt. of guano 



[>er Scotch acre, or 



other 



in tfc* u*J* r Z IT"? w ?*"*"• ""me menes oi clav 

 ahaT^ 1 ?•', UP ° n ^ t0p ° f Whkb the common honi 



mi xture of the 

 portable manures ; but I think less of the home-made 

 manure, viz., 12 tons, under the new system, will be 

 attended with more beneficial and profitable results. 

 In the former case, suppose, 



20 tons of manure, at 7a. per ton 



5 cwt. guano in spring, at 10s. per cwt. ."..' 



In the other view. 



£7 



2 10 





 



£9 10 



lank 



^«r . . ^ .°? 2 in ches of the causeway* 

 perforated with holes in the centre is made to 



A 



/cwt. guano in spring, at 10s. per cwt. ... 



12 tons manure when grain crop is sown 



at 7*. per ton 



• •• 



£3 10 

 4 4 



7 14 



nt in and rest upon the bricki or thin flags/and when 

 m .its place „ level with the rest of X' ,<.L "! 



• • » 



- > - 



£1 16 



■mJll p , Wltn the rest <>f the causeway 



2h«n? J . *? lfc * "*** at once find» its way into 



S^crdaLi i * ""S"^ does not suit 

 wr eitner dairy stock or when queys are fed, but the 



^e provi> l; ,n may be made onAhe" side of tt gn/^r 



^ he construction of the large liquid manure 

 "Hbich you are all familiar, feating now 



reception of the dung, both solid and 



word or two explain what I would 



i order to absorb the urine. On 



can be procured, and care 

 d exposed to the atmo- J 



^p better absorbent can 

 of pe 



or 



vation 

 tank, w 

 provided 

 liquid, I shall 



propose to mix wi 

 all farms where moss 

 taken to have it tumed*o 

 sphere in dry summer we 

 be JTot. In the absence 



of that 



use 



speaking on the majority of fam^T ^\ «?" era "y 

 other ambulations of earth, and wh " "" 



hausted I wonld be disposed to recommen- 



nTfflr''™ 1 ' CVen a,thon g h !t should - 

 of the best descnpt.on. In fact, pure clav when ■„ 



over ,n dry weather a nd exp^sid to Z I "osphere 



r«L P i * "^ th . e IeMt Taluab,e for ™ c h a purpoS' 

 I need not add that whatever is used to iappKS 



the dung-heap should be carted home in JmrneS 

 ^ ready for application when required ; rack (sea- 



Difference 



I am prepared for the' remark, '"This' is expensive 

 manuring, but my experience and observation lead 



Tq 4l lhe J conclusion th at, taking the soil and climate 

 of Scotland as a whole, it will be found that in pro- 

 portion to manure used, will be the produce obtained • 

 and however expensive it may be to secure it in 

 sufficient quantity, we farmers need never flatter 

 ourselves mto the belief that whether we drain, sub- 

 soil or have recourse to other methods for changing 

 the character of the land, a liberal supply of manure 

 can be dispensed with, but under very rare and pecuhar 

 circumstances. Previous to the existence P 

 calamity which has, to so unprecedented an extent 

 interfered w,th the Potato culture, the practice wa' 

 and found beneficial, to apply the dung for that root 

 almost exclus,vely in spring. Experience seems to 

 show, however, that the tendency to disease is aggra? 

 yated m proportion to the quantity that is placed 

 n immediate contact with the sets. It is accordingly 



w!f + ^ i° ^ the Wh0le in ^tumn, or at 

 iol : £ ird £ The P r °P ortion > therefore, p oughed 

 down with the stubble requires little previous 

 ^composition ; but what is put into the drill ougnt 

 A potT \ Tery advanced ^te in that respect. 

 fari-SKL ffUaD ° P*: o P or t ioned to the quantity of 

 effects, TheXlrT !?* been attended with f?ood 

 I have practiseTt^&i "£T 5 *" l }^ d form 



I do L undervalu^l^'l^f and u ^ 



and would just do 



se 



6 J 



wet 

 or 



what the Messrs. Harvey of Glasgow haved^u^i^j 

 I the same inexhaustible supply, and even adopt oth ei . 

 modes of irrigation, if practicable and profitable, still I 

 would say applying it in the solid form, such as I have 

 described in -treating of the preparation of manure 

 will be found most beneficial to the farmer who*- 

 resources for obtaining it are, comparatively speaki^ 

 of a very limited description. It has various dra^ 

 backs when carted out in the liquid state. In 

 weather the Grass is poached, and if applied in frost 

 dry weather, it produces little visible effect. In short 

 now that we can command such stimulants as nitrate 

 of soda and sulphate of ammonia, I would almost con- 

 clude that these in a great measure supersede the 

 necessity for applying it to the surface in the liquij 

 form. All I contend for is this, that the management 

 of manure should be conducted under the great leading 

 principle of converting as much of the liquid into 

 solid as possible, and as little <of the solid into liquid • 

 and this I will further maintain that whether or 

 not it is expedient to manufacture dung occasionally 

 in the field, it is absolutely necessary to have a 

 regular depot for solid and liquid manure at the 

 steading, and also to practise a^ methodical and sys- 

 tematic way of daily collecting into it what requires 

 to be removed from the live stock. The very use of 

 such a means tends to other improvements about the 

 farm. For I would wish to ask any one who has 

 been obliged to force his way through accumulations of 

 dung at stables and byre doors, whether or not he ever 

 found the interior of these houses either clean or the 

 cattle kept in them so, and, upon examination of the 

 horse-dung heap, failed in nine cases out of ten to find 

 it fire fang (an expression familiar to all farmers), and 

 that of the cows sending from it a stream which, from 

 its odour and colour, gave certain proof that the essential 

 elements of the dung were finding their way by the 

 readiest outfall to the nearest rivulet, or otherwise dis- 



-Mr. 



appearing, to the loss of the farmer. 



Main, 



Whitehall, Mid-Lothian, in the course of an interesting 

 address, stated in reference to the application of home 

 manure : I am aware that it is the - practice of 

 many of our best agriculturists to apply their manure in 

 autumn. I have done the same for experiment, and 

 have seen others do it, but I have found the crop ma- 

 nured from the heap, though exposed the whole winter, 

 to be greatly superior to the autumn applied dung, and 

 I have now given up the practice. It is true, when a 

 large quantity is applied, say 40 or 50 cart-loads, neces- 

 sity may compel a portion of it to be given in autumn ; 

 but it may be questionable whether a smaller quantity, 

 with an addition of guano applied in the spring, would 

 not be of equal, if not greater advantage. A neighbour 

 of mine, a few years since, told me he was going to try 

 autumn manuring. On my recommendation, he did 

 only the half of his field in autumn, and the other half 

 in spring ; the crop was Potatoes. The result of the 

 experiment was, that he never tried autumn manuring 

 again. Still I would not condemn the practice. I only 

 state my own experience, and what I have seen in the 

 case of others. The state of preparation in which ma- 

 nure should be applied is a question of considerable 

 interest. From the results of my experience this year, 

 I am disposed to think that manure does most for the 

 benefit of the immediate crop, at least, and I should 

 think for succeeding crops too, when it is applied in a 

 recent state, I never had such a crop of Potatoes as I 

 had this year, from manure applied in this way ; and it 

 appears to be equally applicable to Turnips. The fol- 

 lowing is an experiment I conducted this year, to deter- 

 mine this question. The field was a light sandy loam. 

 The manure prepared exactly in the same way frofl 

 cattle fed on oilcake and Turnips, the only difference 

 was, the one lot was manured from a heap thoroughly 

 rotten, and which had lain for four months in heap; 

 the other lot got manure taken immediately from the 

 cattle courts. Each lot got at the rate of 28 cart-loads 

 per imperial acre. The results are as follows, showing 

 a distinct advantage from the use of recent manure :- 



Produce, 

 tns. cwt lfc 



Rotten Manure, in heap 4 months, 23 carts per 



imperial acre, 



Rotten Manure, as above, 20 carts per imperial acre) 



Peruvian Guano. 64 lbs. per imp. acre J 



Rotten Manure, 12 carts per imp. acre * 



Peruvian Guano. 128 lbs. do f 



Rotten Manure 12 carts do. 1 



Peruvian Guano, 228 lbs. do ../ 



Recent Manure from courts, 28 carts per imp. acre 

 Rotten Manure, 12 carts per imp. acre 

 Nitrate of Soda, 20-»| lbs. do. 



do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 



21 

 21 



20 



5 » 

 * 



17105 



• •• 



• - - 



• •• 



• • « 



• • ■ 



* • t 



• • • 



• •• 



2113 



2118 



17 6 



20 18 



18 8 



19 13 



14 



Rotten Manure 12 carts 

 Peruvian Guano, 328 lbs. 

 Rotten Manura, 12 carts 

 Nitrate of Soda, 291 1 lbs. 

 Rotten Manure, 12 carts 

 Hen Manure, 5 cwt. 



The best return from the mixture of guano with l$® 

 manure is" from lot 4, where 12 carts of manure are 

 aided by 228 lbs. of guano. This application results * 

 13 cwt. 56 lbs. of Turnips, over the crop manured wrta 

 28 acres of rotten home manure alone. In lot 7, *bej 

 the 12 carts were aided with 328 lbs. of guano, or 1 W l£ 

 more than lot 4, the result is not so favour^ to tl» 

 guano. I attribute this to an over dose of ^ 

 without an equivalent increase of manure. The po*J 

 of the guano was expended in the production of shaw * 

 an extent, out-running the capability of the 

 quantity of manure applied, to equal it in gro wt& ** 

 bulb. I have no doubt, that had I applied a few can 

 loads additional, the result would have been verj 

 different. It will be seen, however, that the recent <* 

 green manure; is the most productive manure oi ^ 







