Farming of Cornwall. 
443 
G7. Preservation of Manures. — In order to prevent this ex- 
cessive waste of valuable fertilizers, I recommend th;it liquid 
manure tanks should be constructed on the farm-jards — which 
can be done at a very trifling expense. We have very excellent 
tanks made in Cornwall of the large Delabole slabs of slate — the 
price of one holding 500 gallons being only bl., and so in propor- 
tion to 2000 gallons. And to prevent the escape of the gaseous 
portions of the manure, I recommend the mixing of it with 
gypsum, or, what I have found cheaper and even more valuable, 
the refuse of our alkali works, which is a double sulphate of lime 
and soda, 10 lbs. of which will be sufficient to fix the ammonia of 
100 lbs. of urine. The dried peat from our granite wastes will 
be found an excellent absorbent for liquid manure, 
68. Artificial Manures of all kinds have been used in Corn- 
wall within the last five or six years. Bones, which were intro- 
duced in 1835, may be regarded .as one of the most successful 
agricultural aids of modern days, as it has certainly been one 
great means of reclaiming our waste lands, and considerably im- 
proving the cultivated ones ; — increasing the production of cattle, 
sheep, and corn, and thereby adding to the national resources 
required for an annually increasing population. I merely re- 
late one experiment out of many,* to show the efficiency and 
permanent effect of this manure in reclaiming some waste lands 
adjoining Trelyon Commons, in the parish of St. Stephen s, the 
property of Mr. Hawkins, of Trewithen, under the superintendence 
of his agent, Mr. Trethewy. 
A piece of several acres was enclosed in 1835 and put into tur- 
nips ; one portion of it was manured with bone at the rate of 24 
bushels per acre — the other portion of the field was simply ma- 
nured with the ashes obtained from the breakin<r and burnine: of 
the land. In the years 1836 and 1837 it was successively ciopped 
with oats, and then laid down to permanent pasture. At the 
present time, nearly ten years since it was first broken from the 
contain more or less phosphates, chlorides, and carbonates. Human urine 
contains about 1 lb. of solid matters in 15 lbs., whilst tliat of cows and pigs 
is stronger. Three gallons mixed will yield about 2 lbs. and 2^ lbs. of 
dry solid matters by evaporation ; hence we see that the solid matters of 
urme are much richer in ammoniacal and organic matters than guano, 
and the cow's urine contains much potass. On the other hand, the guano 
contains a large per centage of the phosphates, important both for corn 
and turnips. About two hogsheads of urine are equal to 1 cwt. of best 
guano, and may be improved by the addition of half cwt. of fine bone- 
dust and some gypsum. 
* It would be needless to discuss the various experiments made with 
this and other artificial manures, they having been aheady published by 
the author of this Report in a cheap form, and generally circulated 
throughout the county. 
VOL. VI. 2 II 
