THB MAOAZi NK 
OF 
TBG SCBOOL OK AGRiCULTURG, 
COLOMBO. 
Added as a Sapidement monthh/ to the ‘■^TliOPIGAL AGRICULTUIIISTG 
The folloAviiig pages include the contents of the Magazine of the School of 
Agriculture for October : — 
Some years ago (lie Jtighlaiid Agrieulturul 
LIQUID MA.\UKES. 
HAT Avould you say,” remarkeil 
a -well-kuoAvn agriculturist, 
speaking to a body of farmers, 
“ if, instead of serving up 
the liquid portion of your 
morning beverage of tea, the good wife poured it 
into the sink, and set in front of you nothing 
but the tea leaves with a little pepper and salt to 
aid digestion ? Go where you Avill, you will see 
running to waste the very essence of what would, 
if properly stored and utilized, turn a loss account 
into a profit account at the end of a financial 
year.” The simile quoted above, though it helj)s 
to impress one with the ignorance displayed in 
the ordinary treatment of the excreta of farm 
animals, is, liowever, not quite correct ; for while 
the value of tea leaves after the essence has been 
soaked out of them is practically nil to the tea 
drinker, the solid excreta of stock not only 
possess, if prox>erly handled, a high fertilizing 
\alue, but also serve to imx)rove, in a marked 
degree, the mechanical condition of the soil. 
lJut the fact remains that the urine of animals is 
really the richest jiart of their voidance. Tlie 
urine not only contains a large I’proiiortion of 
nitrogen, jihosphoric acid, and potash resulting 
from the disintegration of animal tissues, but these 
most valualde ingredients nri; lield in solution, 
and are most readily assimilable by plants. And 
yet in this country it is the rule to find the 
licpiid manure from cattle sheds and the dark- • 
coloured drainings from the dung heaji allowed 
to drain off or be washed off, so that it is lost to 
the cultivator altogether. On the other hand, , 
scientific agriculturists and a few who x)erlui|)s ; 
know very little of science, are showing a just j 
appreciation of the great value of li(juid manure. 
Society of Scotland offered a jirize of £400 for tin; 
best scheme of utilizing the urine of house-fed 
animals. It is evident, however, that the best 
method of utilizing liejuid manure will ilepiend on 
the different circumstances of each individual cul- 
tivator. Where cattle are fed in covered sheds, and 
where litter is jdentiful, the urine is best secured 
by being absorbed by the litter, so that both 
liquid and solid excreta are carried off together. 
Again where urine can be coin'eniently stored in 
a tank, soil, leaves, sawdust and various forms 
of refuse matter should be put in the tank, 
for in the course of filtering through these 
substances the liquid defiosits a large xiroportiou 
of the valuable materials it holds in solution, and 
the contents of the reseivoir become a useful 
manure. Again, there is the of)tiou, where con- 
venient, of distributing the manure in the liquid 
form without using any absorbents, but care 
must be taken in ado])tiug this method. Fresh ' 
and undiluted urine, as is well known, has n 
caustic and injurious effect on A'ogetation, but 
when diluted to any apjneciuhlo extent, its afifili- 
cation never fails to cause a great increase in the 
croj). Of course, the diluting of the liquirl in- 
creases the labour and cost of a])])lication, but the ' 
undihrted liquid cannot be safely applied until 
it has fermented and deconq)osed, which will 
cost a loss of its ammonia unless care be taken 
to f)revent that. The best way of fixing the 
ammonia in the case of either solid or licjuid 
manure is to add a little gypsum, a r ery cheap 
fertilizer, which converts the volatile ammonia 
into non-volatile sulphate of ammonia. 
The mo.st inexpiensive method, and that be.st 
suited for .small landowners, is perluqis the using 
of absorbents to soak iqi all theli((uid part (5f the 
excreta. The urine might be hal off inlo a jiit 
containing these al)sorbeul s, or what is stilt easier 
the cattle sheds should be .‘•trewu with them. 
Cattle Ijelonging to nati\es seldom have any form 
of litter given them, and are generally allowv'.l 
