21-4 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[June, 
coast of France. The small fish appear in 
myriads, and are caught in nets, a bait—the 
spawn of other fish—being thrown over to keep 
the schools together. The fishermen sell their 
catch to the establishments that make a business 
of preserving them. The Sardines arc cleaned 
and the heads removed, sprinkled with salt, and 
then slightly dried on wicker frames. They are 
then cooked in boiling olive oil, drained, placed 
in tin cans or boxes, which are filled up with 
fresh boiling oil, and the lid carefully soldered 
on. The cases, after stamping and labeling, are 
ready for the market. The Sardine is a minute 
fish, and no one person consumes a great 
number, yet in the aggregate the amount ex¬ 
pended for them is something astonishing. 
Nantes is the head-quarters of the business, 
and over three thousand boats, carrying five 
men each, belong to that port, and the annual 
export from that place is some 80,000,000 cans. 
Sardines are regarded as an article of luxury, 
rather than as a staple food. They are so ex¬ 
ceedingly rich, that those of weak digestive 
powers can not tolerate them. Their chief 
consumption is at lunches, upon pic-nic and 
other pleasure parties, and by travelers. For 
these purposes they are very popular, as they 
require no preparation. By way of variety, 
they form an acceptable addition to the break¬ 
fast table, although they are more frequently 
used thus by Europeans than by Americans. 
Walks and Talks on the Farm.—No. 114. 
J. J. Thomas writes: “ I would be glad to see 
in the‘Walks and Talks on the Farm’some 
remarks on the common opinion that manure 
spread in summer wastes by exposure to the 
air. I have not performed experiments in this 
way, but have long been in the practice of 
spreading manure both in autumn and winter, 
more especially on grass to be plowed under 
for corn in spring. The complete ciiffusion of 
the soluble manure by rains and melting snows 
renders it about twice as useful as by the more 
imperfect mechanical intermixture when spread 
and plowed under in spring Now, suppose 
manure is spread early in summer on grass or 
other land, will not rains wash it into the soil 
equally well ? If the summer is dry, why will 
not the manure lie on the surface until the rain 
comes? What becomes of it? I am aware 
that this inquiry is often made, but I would like 
to have an answer, and would esteem it an es¬ 
pecial favor.” 
If we spread say 15 tons of ordinary barn¬ 
yard manure on an acre of grassland in the 
spring it makes quite a show. But harrow it 
two or three times at intervals of a few days, 
and it is surprising how rapidly it disappears. 
“What becomes of it?” This 15 tons of or¬ 
dinary manure would probably be composed of 
Water. 22,000 lbs. 
Carbonaceous matter. 7,000 lbs. 
Mineral matter. 850 lbs. 
Nitrogen. 150 lbs. 
30,000 lbs. 
In our dry climate and in hot summer wea¬ 
ther the 22,000 lbs. of water would soon eva¬ 
porate. We should then have 8.000 lbs. of dry 
matter spread over an acre, or not quite three 
ounces on a square foot. If this matter was re¬ 
duced to powder it could hardly be seen on Ibe 
surface of the land, and we might think that 
the manure bad gone to waste, while in point 
of fact nothing had been lost but water. In 
this 8,000 lbs. of dry manure there is 7,000 lbs. 
of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. It is be¬ 
lieved to possess comparatively little fertilizing 
value. All that we have to look to, then, is the 
850 lbs. of mineral matter, and the 150 lbs. of 
nitrogen. No one supposes that the mineral 
matter will waste by exposure to the atmos¬ 
phere. The only risk of loss is from the eva¬ 
poration of the 150 lbs. of nitrogen. It was 
formerly supposed that the nitrogen in ferment¬ 
ed manure existed in the form of carbonate of 
ammonia, and that when the manure was ex¬ 
posed to the atmosphere the ammonia evapo¬ 
rated. The carbonate of ammonia would eva¬ 
porate ; but it lias been ascertained that barn¬ 
yard manure rarely contains any carbonate of 
ammonia. 
If we should spread 15 tons of green clover 
on an acre of land we should furnish 
Water. 24,000 lbs. 
Carbon, etc... 5,420 lbs. 
Mineral matter.... .. 400 lbs. 
Nitrogen. ISO lbs. 
30,000 lbs. 
The nitrogen iu the clover exists in the form 
of substances analogous to albumen or white of 
egg, aud which it is convenient to speak of as 
“ albuminoids.” They are what are sometimes 
called the “ flesh-forming principles ” of food, 
as distinguished from the carbonaceous or 
“ beat-forming principles.” The 15 tons of 
green clover contain a little over half a ton of 
albuminoids, and nearly tons of carbonaceous 
matter. As before stated, these albuminoids in 
the 15 tons of green clover contain 180 lbs. of 
nitrogen. For food , the albuminoids, as such, 
in connection with the carbonaceous matter, are 
of great value as food for our animals; but for 
manure the albuminoids are valuable only for 
the nitrogen which they contain. The plants 
do not need the albumen as such. It must first 
be decomposed and converted into ammonia or 
nitric acid. How to effect this change without 
loss and at the least expense is what we want 
to ascertain. 
If we plow under the 15 tons of green clover, 
it will gradually decompose, and sooner or later 
the albuminoids, with more or less loss of ni¬ 
trogen in the gaseous form, will be converted 
into ammonia or nitric acid, and be taken up 
by the subsequent crops. There are two objec¬ 
tions to this plan. (1st.) Wo plow under about 
3,500 lbs. of nutritious food, capable of produc¬ 
ing flesh, fat, milk, butter, cheese, and wool, for 
the mere purpose of furnishing plants with 180 
lbs. of nitrogen; and (2d) we do not furnish 
this nitrogen in a form immediately available as 
food for plants. It is quite probable that the 
wheat sown on the land where clover is plowed 
under does not get more than from one third to 
one half the nitrogen. The remainder lies dor¬ 
mant in the soil, or is inaccessible to the roots 
of wheat, and may remain in the soil until 
taken up b} r the next crop of clover. In other 
words, we plow under clover, in part, for the 
sake of furnishing nitrogen for another crop of 
clover two, three, or four years hence. 
Another plan would be to let the clover lie 
on the surface of the land. Iu this case there 
is danger of losing more or less free nitrogen. 
The carbon of the clover would be converted 
into carbonic acid, and the hydrogen into water, 
and the nitrogen would, to some extent at least, 
be set free and escape. I do not think, how¬ 
ever, that there would usually be any great loss 
of nitrogen. The half-ton of albuminoids con¬ 
tained in tlie 15 tons of green clover would be 
spread on the surface of an acre of land, and 
would be exposed to the solvent action of a 
large quantity of water. An inch of rain gives 
about 225,000 lbs. of water per acre, and it 
would seem that when the clover or barn-yard 
manure was exposed to a few of our drench¬ 
ing rains there would not be much soluble mat¬ 
ter left in it. Dr. Voelcker found only 8.50 per 
cent of albuminoids in clover hay that had been 
exposed to rain in the field after being cut; 
while good clover hay contains nearly 16 per 
cent of albuminoids. The rain had dissolved 
the albuminoids and carried them into the soil. 
But, as before remarked, what the plants need 
is nitric acid or ammonia; and after the albu¬ 
minoids are washed into the soil they must be 
decomposed before they become food for plants. 
When dissolved in water and carried into the 
soil, there can be little doubt that this decom¬ 
position would proceed much more rapidly than 
when the clover is plowed under. 
If, instead of using this 15 tons of green 
clover for manure, it Avas made into hay and 
fed to animals, and all the liquid and solid ex¬ 
crements carefully saved, we should lose per¬ 
haps five per cent of the nitrogen, which is re¬ 
tained in the wool, flesh, etc. But the nitrogen 
in the excrements is in a very different form 
from that in the clover. The nitrogen exists 
largely in the form of urea, a substance con¬ 
taining over 46 per cent of nitrogen, aud which 
as long as it is dry can be preserved for any 
length of time without decomposition or loss, 
but when in solution rapidly changes into car¬ 
bonate of ammonia, etc. 
If all the nitrogen in manure existed in the 
form of urea, uric acid, liippuric acid, urate of 
ammonia, etc., there would probably he no spe¬ 
cial advantage in fermenting manure before ap¬ 
plying it to the land. The experiments of Dr. 
Cameron and Prof. S. W. Johnson seem to 
prove that plants can take up these substances. 
But still the grand fact remains that in Lawe’s 
and Gilbert’s experiments the nitrogen in barn¬ 
yard manure does not produce as marked an 
effect on the crops as the nitrogen in ammonia- 
salts and nitrates. In other words, the nitrogen 
in ham-yard manure is largely unavailable. 
Barn-yard manure contains more or less 
straw, and the solid excrements also contain a 
considerable proportion of undigested material. 
It is the nitrogen in these substances that is un¬ 
available. And hence the experiments of John¬ 
son and Cameron, showing that plants can take 
up urea, are not inconsistent with the field ex¬ 
periments of Lawes and Gilbert slioiving that 
much of the nitrogen iu barn-yard manure will 
remain dormant in the soil for many years. 
What we now need to discover is some 
method of rendering all the nitrogen in barn¬ 
yard manure available. Mr. Thomas, while he 
does not directly say so, is evidently in favor of 
spreading the manure on the surface of the 
land, and letting it lie exposed to the action of 
the air and rains. The air, aided by the damp 
soil, dews, etc., would soften and break to 
pieces the hard, external covering of the straw, 
and expose the nitrogenous matter, etc., to the 
action of the next shower of rain, which Avould 
dissolve it and carry it into the land, and distri¬ 
bute it more intimately among the particles of 
soil than it could be done by any mechanical 
means. There can be no doubt that ibis plan 
has many advantages. But tve Avant more facts 
before we can decide whether there is not a 
better Avav. I should not hesitate to adopt it 
wherever it Avas convenient. 
I prefer to rot manure as thoroughly ns possi¬ 
ble before applying it to the land. Bat it is not 
always easy to do this without loss from leach- 
