LIQUID MANURES. 
239 
milk of our own species is remarkably changed 
by circumstances. Moral considerations are 
especially operative; thus fear,anger, or a sud¬ 
den fright has changed the character of the se¬ 
cretion to that extent, that death has followed 
fro ill its use; or the infant has died from its 
effects in a few moments. The cow possessed 
the requisite qualities to fit her for the experi¬ 
ments I had in view. She is docile and gentle, 
easily milked, though not at all remarkable for 
the quantity she gives, yet its quality is remark¬ 
ably good for a common cow. I think, too, that 
her system feels at once the influence of food* 
and that it is not lost in unproductive matters, 
but that it is expended in keeping it warm, and 
supplying nutriment to a system which does not 
waste itself excessively in an activity of those 
organs ivhich are immediately concerned in 
producing excrementitious matters. Physiolo¬ 
gists do not all agree, however, in regard to the 
effects of food in producing milk. Boussin- 
gault maintains that it is not essentially affected 
by the kind of food upon which the a nimal sub¬ 
sists, provided each kind of food is furnished in 
equivalent proportions; or which is about the 
same thing, provided the poorness of the food is 
made up in quantity. 
The experiments of Professor Thompson, 
however, do not seem to support this view; and 
my own experiments corroborate those of 
Thompson. This view is also that which we 
should naturally adopt. The milk being de¬ 
rived from the food, must, it would appear, be 
influenced by it, both in quality and quantity. 
Pcoots and tubers, if fed by themselves, will 
rarely agree with the subject; and although an 
exact equivalent of roots and hay may be fed 
to the cow, yet the effects upon the secretion 
will be quite different. Milk is not a substance 
which is created, but rather one which is com¬ 
pounded of pre-existing elements. If there is a 
deficiency of one element in the food, as casein, 
for instance, we may infer with every proba¬ 
bility of truth, that the secretion will be defi¬ 
cient in that element. Some kinds of food will 
make more cheese than others; some pasture 
lands of this state, all things being equal, will 
make more and better butter than others; yet 
it should not be forgotten that the room in 
which the milk is kept, will greatly influence 
the quality of the butter. But there is undoubt¬ 
edly a limit to the influence of food upon the 
quantity and quality of milk. This limit is de¬ 
termined by the gland, the organ of secretion. 
The capability of the gland is constitutional, 
its capacity is determined by growth, or devel¬ 
opment. It is an individual organ and is 
gauged, as it were, by constitutional peculiari¬ 
ties, and any increase of food beyond a certain 
amount cannot furnish a proportional increase 
of milk by atoms of increment. An attempt to 
override a constitutional law will not be suc¬ 
cessful, and perhaps not perfectly safe. The 
object which the farmer should have in view, is, 
to keep the animal up to her constitutional ca¬ 
pacity. E. Emmons. 
LIQUID MANURES. 
We are permitted to copy into the Agricultu¬ 
rist, the following valuable article on the sub¬ 
ject of liquid manures, from the “ American 
Muck Book;” treating of the nature, properties, 
sources, history, and operations of all the princi¬ 
pal fertilisers and manures in common use, with 
specific directions for their preparation, preser- 
, vation, and application to the soil and to crops ; 
drawn from authentic sources, actual experience, 
and personal observation, as combined with the 
leading principles of practical and scientific 
agriculture. Illustrated with engravings. By D. 
J. Browne. This work will be soon issued from 
the press of C. M. Saxton, the enterprising Ag¬ 
ricultural Book Publisher, 152 Fulton street, 
and we do not hesitate to say that it will be 
found the most full and complete treatise on 
manures, both solid and liquid, ever yet given 
to the public :— 
The construction of the best and most con¬ 
venient form of a tank, and a suitable appara¬ 
tus for the collection and application of liquid 
manure, in the most cleanly and economical 
manner, is a subject of great utility, and one 
which has more or less occupied the attention 
of the most eminent agriculturists in various 
ages, and in all civilised countries of the globe. 
The chief faults in the arrangements hereto¬ 
fore made for the purpose of collecting liquid 
manure, appear to have been that, the tanks, in 
some instances, received the urine alone, while 
the drainings of the barn yard and manure heaps 
were allowed to escape; or that they formed a re¬ 
ceptacle for the rain water from the adjoining 
buildings, as well as in the urine, by which the 
liquid manure was much diluted, and conse¬ 
quently an increased expense in applying it; 
while, in other instances, the compost heap was 
at too great a distance from the tank, and hence, 
inconvenience was experienced in impregnating 
the compost when necessary. A mode by 
which these disadvantages would be obviated, 
and what appears to be an efficient system of 
collecting the drainage from the stables, farm 
yard, manure heaps, &c., is as follows :— 
