384 
THE TROPICAL 
AGRICULTUEIST. [Dec. 1, 1900. 
best advantage under cover where 'it is not exposed 
directly to the sun, but most of all to heavy rains. 
Manures allowed to ferment their own way, and ex- 
posed to all weathers are very far from being what 
they look to be ; indeed they may be likened to the 
glitter without the gold, the form without the substance 
and since a worthless manure costs just as much to 
put on the field as a good one, the very serious loss is 
inexcusable. A simple and effective, and cheap 
arrangement is that of the French agriculturist who 
make np two flats with cemented inclined bottoms and 
between the two is a pit or small well, and into this 
is inserted a cheap manure pump for the purpose of 
systematically pumping out the drainings on to the 
manure heaps ; if the draining is insufficient then 
water is added in droughtly weather. The cardinal 
principle is to prevent a violent ferment which 
sufiioient moisture does, but the manure should also 
be compactly and firmly built up, so as to exclude 
excess of air which would give the aerobic ferment 
too much scope for action to the detriment of the 
manure. This is especially applicable to horse manure 
which ferments rapidly and violently, unless thoroughly 
wetted and well compacted. All sorts of odd places 
may do for the purpose of preparing manure where it 
exists in only reasonable quantities, but it should be 
under cover of some kind. The manure muse be 
uniformly mixed, and if need be wetted and kept from 
Btart to finish thoroughly moist and all drainings 
regularly returned to the manure .- then when the 
manure is ready it should [be promptly put on the 
field and ploughed in, or if this is not convenient I 
suggest the covering of it np with a layer of soil until 
required. Experiments and analyses go to show that 
manure merely tossed into a pit or heap and exposed 
to the elements lose half its fertilising matter in 
six months, while on the contrary carefully preserved 
and made manure under cover makes a diiierence 
of ten bushels of wheat and four tons of potatoes per 
acre. 
People in this country seems to hold a high 
opinion of cow manure, but the U. S. A. Department 
of Agriculture gives the relative fertilisiug value of 
manures as follows ;— Poultry, sheep, pips, horse, cows 
thus it will be seen cow manure comes last, but the 
sum total of manures from a cow is more than 
double that from a horse in the course of a year and, 
moreover, the fertilising value of a manure does not 
exhaust its value by any means least of all in a tropi- 
cal country like India : a good dressing of cow 
manure will last much longer and show it? effects 
long after a similiar dressing of horse manure has dis- 
appeared. 
Numerous analyses show that the value of all 
animal manures bears a direct relation to the kind 
of food they receive. For example, linseed and 
cotton seed meal abstract from the soil per ton 105 
and 135 lbs- of nitrogen respectively. Turning to a 
table showing the amount of nitrogen in manure 
from many kinds of feeling stuff, linseed meal figures 
at 16 dollars worth of nitrogen per ton of manure. 
Cotton seed meal at 20 dollars ditto whereas turnips 
figure at 0'48 and Indian corn meal at merely 453 per 
ton and so on. 
Analyses show that all manures contain from 50 to 
95 per cent of the fertilising matter contained in the 
food stuffs consumed, so it necesarily follows that the 
value of manure can be gauged roughly from the 
nature of the food given. 
Animals which have reached maturity and do not 
grow, more or less, excrete practically all the fertili- 
sing matter of the food stuffs consumed. On the 
other hand milch cows and young growing animals 
excrete from fifty per cent of the fertilising matter 
consumed. 
The urine of animals varies considerably, but it is 
highly important to note the urine is even more 
available than tha manure of soma aniirals, con- 
taining as it does a large percentage of perfectly 
soluble fertilising matter, especially so in the case of 
^yiseB, mi ^heep, jiui m&ljses show that uxiue, is 
nearly wholly deficient in phosphoric acid and that by 
far the best plan to obtain an uuiformaly high fertili- 
sing manure is to use the urine with the solid manure 
The following table shows the immense importance 
of securing the urine of all animals, and represents 
the amount of nitrogen in solid and liquid after 
complete removal of water from both : — 
Nitrogen, 
Solid 
Liquid. 
Per cent. 
Per cent. 
Horses 
2-08 
10-9 
Cows 
1-87 
100 
Swine 
3 00 - 
12-0 
Sheep 
1-78 
10-4 
Generally one-half and sometimes much more of 
the nitrogen excreted will be found in the urine and 
a large portion of the potash, but little or no lime or 
phosphoric acid. Nearly, all the potash and phos- 
phoric acid in food stuffs is excreted bv animals ; and 
the urine is much richer in nitrogen than the solid 
matter, hence combination of both is the best of all. 
But since urines aie especially rapid and effective 
in setting np ferments, care at all times is required 
never to allow the heaps to over ferment or become 
dry, otherwise the loss of nitrcgen in the shape mainly 
of ammonia becomes very great. 
CONCLUSION. 
(1) It is a matter of first class paying importanoe 
for the agriculturist to give the strictest attention to 
his manure heap; (a) for the high rate of fertilising 
matter properly managed it may contain : (b) for the 
additional value in aerating and keeping the soil in 
good physical condition. 
(2) Animal manures should be systematically kept 
moist and in this country well compacted into firm 
heaps under cover out of the way of the fierce sun- 
heat and rains. 
(3) No good purpose is served in keeping manure 
after three months out of the soil, but if unavoidable 
a good plan would be to cover over the heap with a 
good layer of soil. 
(4) Cow and pig manures being of a slow, steady 
fermenting character should be mixed with rapid 
highly fermenting manures such as horse and sheep. 
(5) It is highly important to secure all urine and 
incorporate it with the manure. 
(6) The fertilising value of all animal manures bears 
a direct relation to the quality of the food stuff the 
animals receive, highly fed animals giving rich manures 
and poorly fed ones light manure, 
(7) The following substances are good for fixing the 
nitrogen of manures and generally preserving them 
— superphosphate, gypsum, and kainit (a manufac- 
tured form of potash) for cow and horse manure at the 
rate of about a lb. per 1,000 lbs. of manure and for 
sheep and pig manure about 4 ounces per 1.000 lbs. 
CAISIELLIA. 
Banana Caltivation in Fiji.— The exportation of 
fruits, and especially of Bananas, continues to rise, 
and according to the report of the German Consul, 
the value of the exports rose from £25,477 in 1898, 
to £30,606 in 1899. Nevertheless this crop is consider- 
ably less than could be obtained. The plants are 
subject to a disease, the cause of which is not aa 
yet ascertained. During the first year no injurious 
appearances are remarked, and the plants bear 
handsome bunches of fruit, but suddenly they be- 
come unhealthy and must be gruljbed up. With 
the aim of overcoming the disease, new plantations 
are laid down, but under the disadvantage of getting 
always further from the seaports. Some of the 
planters are importing varieties of Bananas from 
other countries, in the hope of obtaining one or 
more which may resist the disease.— (?«r(?tft}«-8' 
ClironiQk, 
