( 45 ) 
IV. — Faimj/ard Manure. By J. B. Lawes, Esq., F.R.S., F.C.S.* 
Farmyakd manure is generally looked upon as the natural 
manure of our crops. Artificial manures, on the other hand, are 
frequently supposed to be mere stimulants ; and the very fact 
that but a small quantity of them may produce as much increase 
of crop as a very large quantity of farmyard manure is brought 
as an argument against the use of the artificial manures. A few 
observations upon the sources and the composition of farmyard 
manure may therefore be of service. 
It is well known that the straw of our corn-crops and the solid 
and liquid excrements of horses and other animals fed in the 
stables, sheds, and yards, are the substances which contribute to 
form the heterogeneous mass csWeA farmyard dunq. Let us esti- 
mate what proportion of these various matters will, under given 
circumstances, be included in the complex mass, and thence 
endeavour to arrive at some conclusion as to its composition. 
Suj)posethe case of a farm of 400 acres farmed on the 4-course 
'I'otiil 
Phospho- 
ric Acid, 
Nitrogen 
Total Dry 
Matter. 
Mineral 
Matter 
reckoned 
as Phos- 
Nitrogen. 
calculated 
as 
(ash). 
phate of 
.\mmonia. 
Lime. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
lbs. 
100 acres roots; half the] 
crop = 6 tons per acre, | 
consumed at home, j 
29,5fi8 
7,741 
1686 
2,411 
2,512 
3,050 
give as manure . . 1 
100 acres barley : ati 
2500 lbs. straw perl 
acre ; l-5th reckoned V 
198,333 
11,138 
916 
1,574 
1,213 
1,473 
as food, and 4-5ths as 
litter, give as manure 1 
100 tons of hay con-j 
sumed at home, give! 
94,080 
14,818 
2267 
3,124 
3,808 
4,624 
as manure . . . . ) 
100 acres of wheat: at\ 
3000 lbs. straw per 
acre; l-5th reckoned I 
as food, and 4-5ths asl 
235,200 
14,850 
1634 
1,948 
1,745 
2,120 
litter, give as manure / 
Corn = 43,800 lbs. of] 
oats, consumed by I 
7,534 
1,198 
487 
216 
745 
905 
horses, give as ma-j 
20 tons of oilcake (lin-] 
seed, rape, and cotton 1 
seed), consumed at j 
9,930 
3,295 
2507 
963 
2,185 
2,653 
home, give as manure I 
Total .. .. 
574,645 
53,040 
9497 
10,236 
12,209 
14,825 
* This short treatise, which is extracted from an unpublished pamphlet by 
the author's permission, will be found highly suggestive as to the economy of 
fertilisers. — P. H. F. 
