THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
ces onl', the solid excrements impregnated with 
the liquid are used, and the dung hills contain- 
ing tiiese are protected neither irom evaporation 
nor from rain. The solid excrements contain 
the insoluble, the liquids all the soluble phos- 
phates, and the latter contain likewise all the 
potash which existed as organic salt in the plants 
consumed by the animal.” — Liebig's Organic 
Ckvnistry, 
“Liquid manure consists in a great degree of 
the urine of various animals, which during its 
decomposition, exhales a larger quantity of am- 
monia than any other species of excrement. — 
Now all kinds of corn contain nitrogen, and 
consequently any manure which yields a ready 
supply of ammonia, must cause a fuller deve- 
lopement of those parts of the plants which are 
of the greatest use to man. Even the kind of 
animal manure usually employed in this coun- 
try owes its elRcacy, so far as it is dependent on 
the ammonia present, to the urine, rather than to 
the solid excrement of which it is made up, and 
hence becomes materially deteriorated in this re- 
spect, when the more liquid portions are allow- 
ed to drain oiF from it.” — Dauby’s Lectures on 
Agricuh ure. 
“The quantity ol liquid manure produced by 
one cow aimually, is equal to fertilizing li acres 
of ground, producing effects as durable as do the 
solid evacuations. A cord of loam, saturated 
wuth urine, is equal to a cord of the best rolled 
dung. If the liquid and solid evacuations, in- 
cluding the litter, are kept separate, and soaking 
up the liquid by loam, it has been found they 
will manure land, in proportion by bulk of 7 li- 
quid to 6 solid, w'hile their actual value is as 2 
to 1. One hundred pounds of cow’s urine af- 
ford 25 lbs. of the most powerful salts which 
have ever been used by farmers. The simple 
statement then in figures, of the difference in 
value of the solid and liquid evacuations of a 
cow, should impress upon all the importance of 
saving the last in preference to the first. — Dana’s 
Muck AIanual,p. 171. 
“Urine is always a most valuable manure. — 
No farmer should permit it to run to waste, but 
should so prepare his cattle yard by loam or 
swamp muck, and by plaster, as to save these 
invaluable products of his stables, and of bis 
own dw'elling. As the urine is commonly mix- 
ed Avith the solid excrements in the barn yard or 
cattle yard, it increases the value of this ma- 
nure, it promotes its decay, and adds its orvn 
salts; but if the rvhole is exposed to the influ- 
ence of atmo.spheric agents, it facilitates their 
action, and aids in depreciating its value; hence 
it is generally wholly lost to the farm. Farm- 
ers ought to know this, and to be apprized of 
the fact that at least one-half of their manure is 
v/asted.” — Gray’s Etevients of Agriculture/p. 502. 
“Upon nearly all onr farms the dung of quad- 
rupeds is exposed to the open air, without the 
protection of a shed, as soon as it is removed 
from the stables; and is thus washed by the rains, 
which carry off all the salts, urine and soluble 
juices, and form at the foot of the mass a rivulet 
of blackish fluid, which is either wholly evapo- 
rated or lost in the ground. In proportion as 
fermentation advances, new soluble combina- 
tions are formed, so that all the nutritive and 
stimulating principles of the dung gradually dis- 
appears, till there remain only some weak por- 
tions of the manure, intermingled with stalks of 
straw which have lost all their goodness. — Chap- 
taVs AgnciMural Chemistry^ p. 55. 
A VALUABLE HINT. 
“To remedy as much as possible an abuse so 
injurious to agriculture, it is necessary at least 
to dig a deep ditch to receive all the juices which 
fiow from the dunghill, in order that they may 
be used in the spring on upon the corn or grass 
lands; or that they may be preserved to water 
the grass lands rvith after the first morving. A 
large cask fixed upon a small cart, and rv^hich 
can be filled by means of a hand pump, is suffi- 
cient for this pui'pose. Beneath the tap of the 
cask must be fitted a narrow chest about four 
feet long, rvith the bottom pierced with holes, 
through Avhich the liquor may be scattered. — 
This mode of rvatering, when used after mow- 
ing, produces wonderful qhects upon the crop of 
the folloAving year.” — Ib. 
AN EXPERIMENT. 
In confirmation of the statement last quoted, 
the writer may be permitted to notice an experi- 
ment with liquid manure made by himself du- 
ring the past year. Some 150 gallons of liquid 
W'ere dipped in the month of October, from an 
excavation beneath his horse stable, and evenly 
distributed over a small area (perhaps 20 square 
rods,) of old meadorv land, the soil a stifi day 
loam, on wffiich but little grass had grown for 
four or five years. When that area was mowed 
about the first of August last, it wms judged to 
yield at the rate of at least three tons to the acre! 
An increase of certainly not less than five to 
one, and attributable to no other assignable 
cause than that dressing of liquid manure, of 
which too a considerable portion must have been 
made of rvater. 
[To be contiimed.] 
BOMMEK’S MANURE— NO HUMBUG. 
The invention of Mr. Bommer is presented 
to the public under circumstances rvhich ought 
to inspire confidence. If tve were wffiolly de- 
pendent on Mr. Bommer and his agents for in- 
formation respecting the efficiency and utility 
ol his method, Ave might even in this case, re- 
gard it as entitled to a candid investigation, es- 
pecially Avhen it is understood that we knoAV no- 
thing in their characters calculated to excite our 
suspicions, or in the system of the process, in- 
compatible Avith the principles of sound philoso- 
phy. As it regards Mr. Bommer’s personal 
character, it may be safely asserted, that we 
knoAV nothing against it, Avhile the valuable im- 
provement which he has introduced among the 
agriculturists of our countiy, very' naturally in- 
spires us Avith sentiments of profound respect for 
him as a gentleman of scientific research, and 
of a discriminating judgment. His theory has 
past the ordeal of a careful examination by dis- 
interested gentlemen, whose attainments in sci- 
ence pre-eminently qualified them to trace its 
harmony Avith the most approved principles of 
philosophy. The practical utility of the system 
has been tested both by jntblic and private ex- 
periments, and in every case Avhere the princi- 
ples of the theory have been fairly carried out, 
it has resulted Avith complete success. The ad- 
vantages of the method are so diversified that 
they are not likely to be duly appreciated with- 
out a careful examination. While I shall take 
it for granted, that the importance of nutritious 
manure is generally acknoAvledged by the far- 
mers of New England, it must be conceded, that 
in a majority of cases essential losses are sus- 
tained in this article for the want of a well ad- 
justed system. The method of Mr. Bommer 
furnishes a sy.stem of the most rigid economy 
in saving every thing that is available, and in 
using all to the greatest advantage. The ex- 
pedition Avith which decomposition is carried on 
by this method, has very justly attracted the at- 
tention of the public, and presents inducements 
for general adoption, which it AArouldseem that 
the most inveterate prejudice could not resist. 
If, in any case, it may be asserted with truth, 
that “time is money,” it is emphatically true in 
respect to the time Avhich is saA^ed by this rapid 
process in converting articles, w'hich are fre- 
quently wasted, into the most valuable manure, 
in a feAV days, in.stead of requiring ayear to con- 
summate the object in a manner far less effec- 
tual. It is certainly no trifling advantage which 
is derived from this method, that the germinat- 
ing powers of all weeds, submitted to decompo- 
sition by this process, will be utterly destro3''ed; 
and that jmrd or stable manure, in Avhich foul 
seed is suspected to exist, may be essentially 
improved in quality by this mode of manage- 
ment, while everj^ kind of seed in the manure 
will be incapable of vegetating. In locations 
Avhere sea-w^eeds or other vegetable matters are 
easily obtained, AAfliich are difficult to decompose 
by any ordinary process, Mr. Bommer’s method 
must prove an ine.stimable benefit to such as 
avail themselves of its use. But if we add to 
the aboA'e the advantages of earth and liquid 
manures, and also Mr. Bommer’s plan of aug- 
menting stable or yard manure, and the process 
which Avill soon be communicated to the pur- 
chasers of his method of a cheap and expedi- 
tious mode of converting muck and peat into 
good manure, it will be difficult to conceive of 
the amount of profit Avhich Avill re.sult to com- 
munity if these improvements should be gene- 
rally adopted. — Coil. Farmer’s Gazette. 
MANAGEMENT OF MANURE. 
We remember the time Avhen farmers used to 
let their heaps of manure remain through the 
summer, fermenting and sending off the gases, 
Avhich are the finest and most Amluable parts of 
the manure. Sometimes the heap Avould be 
nearly hot enough to produce spomaneous com- 
bustion. We once put some potatoes in a heap 
of fermenting manure to sprout them, and in a 
feAV days, on examination, aa'c found that they 
were done, being completely roasted. 
Besides the great waste from fermentation, 
the manure Avas drenched with rains; and the 
soluble parts, the best that remained, AA'ere car- 
ried awa}’-, and frequently deposited wffiere they 
were not needed. Thus by “fire and flood” all 
the most valuable parts of the manure Avere dis- 
sipated and carried aw-ay. Then the manure 
Avas black and mellow, and farmers considered 
it in fine condition for Indian corn or other 
crops for the next season. So it AAms hauled out 
in the fall, and deposited in the field for that 
purpose. How much wms lost in this A\'ay we 
cannot tell, perhaps one third by the escape of 
gases, and another third might be carried aAAmy 
in solution, for the stream from the manure Avas 
dark and rich. 
Manure should never ferment wdthout being 
well covered Avith loam or some substance to 
absorb the gases; and when applied to the soil, 
it should be covered immediately; and if the 
soil be light and porous it should be coA^ered a 
good depth or the gases Avill escape. If manure 
in the heap is likely to ferment before it can be 
conveniently applied to the soil, and it be not 
convenient to cover it with loam, or anything to 
receive and retain the gases, it may be OA’er- 
hauled and exposed to the air to keep it cool. It 
is better to spread out manure before fermenta- 
tion commences, though it Avill lose sometliing 
by being thus exposed to the air, than to let i! 
remain to heat in the heap. For AA'hen in a heap 
the decomposition is rapid and the loss great. — 
When spread out and exposed, the fermentation 
is sloAV and the loss in a given time compara- 
tively small. 
Some writers recommend preparing manure 
for crops by alloAving it to ferment before appli- 
ed to the soil, but this method is very injudi- 
cious, unless some method is taken to retuin tke 
gases. Partially decomposed manure is good 
to give plants an early start, but the support thus 
given soon fails, and if there be not other ma- 
nure or rich soil, the plant fails in a measure 
before the crop is matured. We prefer appl}-- 
ing manure before fermentation, that the gases 
may enrich the soil and make it light and mel- 
loAAL In this case if there be not a rich soil to 
give the plants a start in the first of the year’, it 
may be Avell to apply ashes or poudrette, or 
something to give them an early start, if any 
thing of the kind can be procured AA’ith economy. 
We have found that though old manure grt^es 
the plant a good color and rapid growth in the 
first of the season, the crop is usually lighter 
than when manure is applied in its full strength, 
that gives an abundance of nutriment to the 
plants when the crop is matured, this being the 
time when it is most needed. When old ma- 
nure, or fine compost can be conA'^eniently mix- 
ed with new manure, they ansAver well, as one 
afibrds food for plants in the early part of the 
season, and the other in the latter part. 
Boston Cultivator. 
