Home Manufacture of Portable Manures. 
tliey may be applicMl in all seasons with fj^roater liopes of succes* 
than nine-tenths of the sj/ecial manures foi- ^ass, grain, and roots, 
with which the market is inundated. 
There is another substance which farmers might turn to account 
for the home manufacture of manure, viz. the ammoniacal liquor 
from gas-works, but that in most places the entire supply is 
purchased by contract by the manufacturers of sulphate of am- 
monia. This ammoniacal liquor is of considerable value as a 
fermenting agent in dissolving bones. After being once distilled 
it contains 20 per cent, of ammonia, chiefly in the state of a 
carbonate, in which form it is liable to escape ; and in order to 
check the evaporation, sulphuric acid should be mixed with it. 
The difficulty of procuring this liquor, as already mentioned, 
must interfere with its extended use on the farm. It is generally 
admitted that the use of nitrogenous manures alone for top- 
dressing cereals promotes too rapid growth, rendering the stem 
succulent, and thereby inducing in the crop a tendency to lodge. 
Many substances have been recommended to counteract this 
tendency, without impairing the properties of the manure em- 
ployed. Salt has hitherto been most generally used, with Peru- 
vian guano : the complaint, however, against this article is, that 
while it stiffens the straw, it lessens its bulk. Sulphate of soda is 
now coming into use to mix with nitrate of soda and sulphate of 
ammonia, and with good effect. As the question is asked occa- 
sionally where nitrate of soda is made, it may not be altogether 
out of place to state that the greater portion, if not the whole 
used in agriculture, is imported from South America, East Indian 
nitrate of soda being employed in the manufacture of nitrate of 
potash (saltpetre), in which state it comes to this country. 
Fermented Bones. — Several substances may be employed to 
ferment bones : ashes of wood, peat, and coal, sawdust, droppings 
from the stable, brewery refuse, shoddy, or any substance that 
will, when mixed with ground bones, induce fermentation : these, 
if moistened with the drainings from the dunghill, urine, gas- 
liquor, &c., when reduced to a crumbling state, will furnish 
a manure of considerable fertilising properties. The heap having 
been made up with sufficient moisture, is left to ferment, the 
operation being performed in a covered shed. As a general rule, 
bones as a manure are better adapted for light gravelly soils than 
for stiff land. 
Carcases. — Horses and cattle that die on the farm through 
disease, accident, or age, are in general buried ; as, being of no 
further use, that is the best, resource for putting them out of the 
way. I shall point out what should be done with such carcases, 
whereby they may be turned to some useful and economical 
purposes. First skin the animal, as done in a slaughterhouse ; 
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