THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



357 



the manures depends upon the quantity they 

 contain. Liberal manuring is the basis of all 

 agriculture. It is scarcely necessary to say, 

 that the farmer must rely upon the produce of 

 his own fields and of his animals for the means 

 of maintaining the fertility of his lands, and 

 that all other manures which he can obtain 

 must be regarded as subsidiary to this main 

 source of supply. The materials must be col- 

 lected and applied with method, system and 

 judgment, and with special regard to the pre- 

 servation of the compounds of nitrogen, and 

 of those inorganic substances found in the 

 ashes of the plants. But if negligence and 

 waste characterize the operations of the farmer 

 in the use of those materials, there can be no 

 justification for the purchase of guano or other 

 special manures to remedy his improvidence. 



In regard to the farm-yard there are two 

 great sources of waste — the drenching effects 

 of rain and the heating of manures. The 

 most of the compounds of nitrogen, and the 

 greater parts of the saline ingredients of ma- 

 nures are soluble. Successive washings leave 

 little more than the woody fibre of the ma- 

 nure, containing scarcely any fertility. Water 

 should never be permitted to run from a farm- 

 pen; the quantity of the materials and the 

 position of the yard should carefully guard 

 against such waste. The extent of the farm- 

 pen and the quantity of materials collected 

 must be a source of no satisfaction, if the fer- 

 tilizing ingredients have been washed out by 

 successive rains. 



The other source of waste is too rapid fer- 

 mentation, usually called heating of manures. 

 Ammonia is a volatile alkali which is disen- 

 gaged from all organic manures by rapid fer- 

 mentation. A single example will be suffi- 

 cient for illustration. Fresh stable manure in 

 the dry state contains near three per cent, of 

 nitrogen. After heating in a thick stratum, 

 it lost nine-tenths of its weight and contained 

 no more than one per cent, of nitrogen, when 

 reduced todryness.— [Boussingault, 285.] This 

 degree of heating and extent of loss are rarely 

 permitted, and the extreme case is quoted only 

 as a warning against any degree of rapid fer- 

 mentation, in which ammonia is lost. The 

 spreading of plaster, marl and ashes between 

 the different layers of the materials of the 

 farm-pen, will, to some extent, aid in fixing 

 the ammonia and improve the quality of the 

 manure. Before hauling out, the heap should 

 be turned once or twice to mix the ingredients 

 more intimately and produce a more uniform 

 decomposition. 



The slow and gradual decomposition of ma- 

 nure heaps, containing ashes and calcareous 

 earths, not only retain all of the ammonia and 

 •Uric acid which are formed from the mate- 

 rs placed in compost, but an additional 

 ■ antity is produced by a union between the 

 ements of the manure heap, with the free 

 hrogen of the atmosphere. In composts thus 

 /brmed, and frequently turned, after prolong- 

 ed decomposition, the quantity of nitrogen is 



found to be greater in the ammonia and nitric 

 acid than was contained in the whole of the 

 substances first placed in compost. [Edinburg 

 Quarterly Journal Ag., 1847-49, 582; Prof. 

 Johnston, Bousingault, 250.] To produce these 

 results, the presence of alkaline or calcareous 

 carbonates is necessary; and the mere heap- 

 ing of the materials of the farm-pen is not 

 sufficient. [Boussingault, 249.] As these com- 

 pounds of nitrogen constitute the chief ferti- 

 lizing ingredient of putrescent manures, the 

 conditions necessary to their formation should 

 exist in the compost heap, and all the means 

 of increasing their quantity, should be care- 

 fully adopted-. 



In pointing out the important requisites in 

 the preparation of farm-pen manures, I do not 

 wish to be understood as recommending the 

 use of all the resources of the farm in that 

 mode. The farm-pen, to some extent, is in- 

 dispensable. There must be sufficient mate- 

 rials collected to absorb and retain the ma- 

 nures, when any portion of the cattle are 

 penned. Further than this I do not regard 

 the accumulation of vegetable substances eco- 

 nomical or judicious. 



Among some farmers, there is a prevalent 

 impression that the process of digestion by 

 the cattle adds to the fertilizing ingredients of 

 the farm-pen— in other words, makes the ma- 

 terials of the farm-pen richer. This impres- 

 sion must be removed at once by the statement 

 that nitrogen constitutes both the nutritious 

 principles of food, and the chief fertilizing 

 ingredient of the manures. That portion of 

 the nitrogen which is abstracted in the forma- 

 tion of flesh, and which is exhaled from the 

 animal, is so much withdrawn from the ferti- 

 lity of the manures — to which must be added 

 that portion of the phosphates which forms 

 the bones. A ton of wheat straw, then, must 

 be regarded as containing a larger amount of 

 enriching elements before being fed to cattle, 

 than after the process of digestion. 



There is always a large surplus of straw 

 and other materials not needed for farm-pens; 

 and the best disposition of this is to haul it 

 directly to the land you desire to manure, and 

 to spread it broadcast. It is much lighter in 

 hauling when dry, and can be hauled in more 

 convenient seasons. In the process of decay 

 no fertilizing principle is given off to the air; 

 for it is asserted on high authority, as the re- 

 sult of experiment, that a substance contain- 

 ing nitrogen, all of whose parts are in contact 

 with the air, in the process of decomposiiion, 

 never contributes nitrogen to the confined at- 

 mosphere in which it is placed. [Boussingault, 

 242.] But on the contrary, a portion of the 

 hydrogen evolved in putrefaction unites with 

 She nitrogen of the atmosphere surrounding it, 

 and forms ammonia. The absorbent powers 

 of the soil and of the organic substances are 

 sufficient to retain the ammonia thus formed, 

 until consumed by the growing crop. 



The production of ammonia and nitric acid 

 from the nitrogen of the atmosphere by the 



