"T461, 4(32, 463, 404] marling— stable MANURE. 235 



461. Effects of Marling on Health — Disinfecting Action, — Over and above 

 the favorable eJFects of liming or marling on the productiveness of soils, another 

 important result is often experienced in districts where marling has been 

 practiced on the large scale, viz : the improvement of the general hcalt i of the 

 region, especially where the soils were acid and ill drained. This effect on the 

 larj*e scale may be understood in some measure, when we recollect the disin- 

 fecting and deodorizing powers possessed by burnt lime — frequently used for that 



purpose in sewers, cesspools, hospitals, etc. The effect in this respect, of marls, 

 or carbonate of lime, is, of course, less energetic than that of burnt lime, but it 

 exists none the less, and the general use of our marls for these purposes, would 

 not be among the least benefits conferred by them on the population. 



With these materials at hand, there is little excuse for pestiferous privies, and 

 offensive offal or manure. If the addition of lime or marl cannot in all cases 

 obviate offensive odors, it can at least deprive them of their most noxious 

 components ; while in the case of manure piles, the value of the material is 

 greatly enhanced by the addition of calcareous materials (see below). 



462. Qypseous Marls. — This class of marls, which contains the sulphate of 

 lime instead of the carbonate, or sometimes both, is of frequent occurrence in 

 some parts of the southern marl region, and is found, more or less, from the 

 northern line of that region to within a few miles of the sea-coast. Notwith- 

 standing this large range of occurrence, however, the amount of available 

 gypseous marls found in the State is much smaller than that of the "calcareous" 

 class. Not only are its deposits more limited, but the beds frequently consist 

 of heavy, gray clays, with only here and there a large lump of gypsum ; so that 

 it would be equally impracticable to make use of the gypsum without, as with 

 the accompanying matrix of inert clay. Specialities concerning some of these 

 marls will be found in the places referred to in H303 3 , as well as in the 

 Special Part, under the head of the " Central Prairie Region." 



In general, the same rules which apply to the use of gypsum, as a manure, 

 will hold true in the case of gypseous marls ; unless indeed, analysis should 

 show them to contain other ingredients which could essentially modify their 

 action. 



463. Stable Manure — Composting. — All the manures heretofore dis- 

 cussed, are more or less partial in their action ; supplying only one, or a few, of 

 the necessary constituents of a good soil, or stimulating it into a temporary 

 increase of productiveness. The manure of manures, which by itself alone 

 supplies all the ingredients necessary to insure permanent and active fertility, is 

 that derived from the excrements, both solid and fluid, of animals, which, in its 

 usual mixture with straw or other materials which may have been used as 

 litter, is known as stable, barnyard, or farmyard manure ; and the same holds 

 good, in a still higher degree, of night-soil and the preparations derived from it, 

 such as poudrette. 



464. The pre-eminence of stable manure in this respect cannot be surprising, 

 when we consider its origin, in connection with the principles laid down in the 

 preceding pages. The solid excrements carry with them the greater portion of 

 the mineral matters contained in the food of the animal ; and such parts of 

 these as have been temporarily retained by the animal system, at last pass off 

 likewise in the urine, in the regular course of the chang2 of substance, which is 

 constantly taking place in the animal economy. All the food consumed by 

 animals, is derived, directly or indirectly, from plants ; in the excrements of 

 animals, therefore, we must find the indestructible matter which, having been 

 originally derived from the soil, will renew its fertility when returned to it ; 

 particularly when connected, as in this case, with abundance of ammoniacal salts 

 (formed by the decay of animal matter), and vegetable matter which has passed 

 through the body without essential change. The mineral ingredients of stable 

 manure, as a general thing, are in an easily soluble, highly available condition, 

 and all the facilities required for their rapid transfer to the vegetable organism, 



