The Application of the Manure of the Farm. 
347 
find that combination which is most advantageous for the general 
purposes of vegetation. In this combined form we have a 
manure whicli more completely supplies the wants of the growing 
j)lant than either the solid or the liquid can separately accom- 
plish. After the food of the animal has been digested and 
passed into the intestines to yield to the animal system tiie nutri- 
ment it contains, the portion which remains unabsorbcd con- 
stitutes the solid excrement of the animal. This residuum Avill 
consequently be deficient in such substances as the alkalies and 
phosphates, which after being taken up into the system are again 
to a certain extent voided in the urine. The food of the animal 
in its original state may be taken as the type of the perfect plant, 
which has been divided by the processes of animal life into two 
distinct portions ; and it is only when these are re-combined that 
the manure becomes fully adapted for the support of vegetation. 
Under certain circumstances it does not appear advisable to 
carry out the box or pit system ; and thus, by the adoption of 
stalls, (Sec, we have the natural separation of the solid and liquid 
excrements to a great extent maintained. The former is gene- 
rally removed to the manure-pit, whilst the latter runs away to 
the tank. The best mode of using this liquid manure is a dis- 
puted point ; but various reasons induce me to think that we 
cannot do better than employ it in conjunction with the solid 
matter from which it had been separated. The solid manure on 
being removed from the animal soon undergoes a fermentation, 
that it may again assume a form adapted to the support of vege- 
table life. The value of the product depends on this process 
being duly regulated ; and the presence of moisture is indis- 
pensable for preventing a too rapid or violent action. To this 
end what liquid can be as beneficially applied as that which will 
restore those elements of fertility which have passed away from 
it into the urine, at the same time that it checks undue heating. 
By the aid of a pump and hose the tank-water can be easily dis- 
tributed over the fermenting manure, which should be maderately 
compressed, but not so tightly as to prevent the passage of the 
liquid through its mass. Many manure-pits are constructed so 
that they may drain into the tank. This is a good plan, for it 
enables the liquid to be freely used without fear of adding too 
much to the heap. I am a decided advocate for the use of the 
liquid-manure with the dung of the farm, for I believe that in 
their combined use both act with increased advantage. 
The adoption of this mode of using the liquid-manure will, 
under a careful course of management, remove the necessity for 
further question as to the use of this fertiliser ; but for those 
cases in which it is allowed to become intermixed with other 
water, or in which it is wished to apply it to the land in a 
VOL. XXI. 2 b 
