THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



117 



sire anything better for the purpose." That 

 is all true, except in one particular ; plas- 

 ter, UNLESS IN SOLUTION, Will not convert 



carbonate of ammonia into the sulphate of 

 ammonia, Ltebig, Stockhardt and Nash, 

 and the agricultural papers to the contra- 

 ry notwithstanding. We are exceedingly 

 sorry that it will not. It would be such a 

 great advantage to the farmer. By its 

 aid, he could reduce his whole manure 

 heap, by fermentation, to a few wagon 

 loads, and it would be so strong that a few 

 bushels would be sufficient for an acre, 

 saving an immense amount of labor and 

 expense'in hauling it to the field, &c. 



u But can it be possible that such able 

 chemists have made so great a blunder?" 

 It is easy to account for this fact. Chem- 

 ists always work with their re-agents in 

 solution, and sulphate of lime in solution 

 will convert carbonate of ammonia "into 

 carbonate of lime and sulphate in ammo- 

 nia. Such being the case, the chemist, 

 stung with the taunt, " Chemistry has 

 done nothing for agriculture," asserts 

 that he has discovered something that will 

 be of great benefit to every practical farm- 

 er, and states that by scattering gypsum on 

 fermenting manure, the escaping ammonia 

 will be arrested. Learned authors em- 

 bodied it in new works. The newspapers 

 take up the assertion and scatter it broad- 

 cast over the land ; so that at the present 

 time it is as familiar as household words, 

 and if you attempt to undeceive a person 

 on the subject, he will take you for a 

 young upstart, and advise you to speak a 

 little more respectfully of the great teach- 

 ers of science ! 



Scattering dry or moist plaster on the 

 manure heap, then, is of little use. But 

 if we could only dissolve it, it would be 

 just the thing we want. Cannot this be 

 done ? It is true that something like 400 

 pounds of water are required to dissolve 

 one pound of plaster, but cannot the wa- 

 ter be used over and over again, the ma- 

 nure taking the sulphate of lime from the 

 water as it is filtered through it ? The wa- 

 ter in the tank should always be kept sat- 

 urated with gypsum. In this way plaster 

 sufficient to form a considerable quantity 

 of sulphate of ammonia might be placed 

 in the heap without rendering the manure 

 too wet for fermentation, inasmuch as the 

 carbonate of lime resulting from the trans- 1 

 formed sulphate of lime would materially | 

 assist decomposition. This method will 



not only preserve all the most valuable 

 substances of the manure., but it will ena- 

 ble the wheat growing farmer to drive off 

 a great part of the valueless portion of the 

 manure — carbon and water — and so re- 

 duce the weight and bulk of the heap, and 

 the laboF and expense of applying it to 

 the soil. Manures managed in this way, 

 and fermented to the extent proposed, may 

 be used as top dressing with little, if any 

 loss. On loamy soil, it may be drawn out 

 in the fall — the comparatively leisure sea- 

 son of the farmer — and spread on the 

 land, ready for plowing in for corn, pota- 

 toes, &c, the next spring. 



To carry out successfully the plan of 

 preparing manure which we have briefly 

 attempted to sketch, it will be necessary to 

 have the farm buildings arranged w r ith this 

 object in view. As a general thing, at 

 present, the barn and cow house, the sta- 

 bles, the piggeries, and the sheep-yard, all 

 occupy separate places, often quite a dis- 

 tance from each other. This ought not so 

 to be. They should all open into, and en- 

 circle a common yard, having a southern 

 aspect, and containing a good range of 

 open sheds for young cattle, &c. The im- 

 portance of this cannot be over estimated. 

 As we now write, our kindling enthusiasm 

 for agricultural improvement is nipped in 

 the bud when we think of the miserably 

 arranged farm buildings common through- 

 out the length and breadth of the land. 

 We have innumerable handsome barns 

 with domes, Venetian shutters and glass 

 windows, which an Englishman would 

 mistake for a dissenting chapel or a coun- 

 try school house, but we have very few 

 really good, well arranged, substantial farm 

 buildings. We do not desire to see expen- 

 sive buildings, but such as are simple., 

 plain, and substantially arranged for con- 

 venience, utility and profit. You cannot 

 make the most profit on your farms, inas- 

 much as you cannot make good manure, 

 the sheet anchor of all good husbandry, 

 without them. 



Another requisite for carrying out our 

 system is — a good wheel-barrow. Reader, 

 you probably have not got one. Few 

 farmers have. Perhaps you have a com- 

 mon dirt barrow. This is better than noth- 

 ing, certainly, but is not worthy a place in 

 any respectable barn-yard. Do get a good 

 one, with a large flat bottom, a high front- 

 piece and deep side boards which can be 

 taken off at pleasure. Then when you 



