240 
LIQUID MANURES. 
First, let a site be fixed upon for the manure 
tank, on the northerly side, if convenient, and 
behind the buildings of the yard; the tank be¬ 
ing made of bricks, laid in cement or hydraulic 
mortar, and covered over, as indicated by fig. 
48. A scuttle, or “ man hole,” should be con¬ 
structed in the top, to allow a person to enter, to 
clear out the sediment which is liable to collect. 
The size should be regulated by the stock usu¬ 
ally kept in the stables or sheds. Into this tank, 
all the urine from the stables, stalls, &c., should 
be collected, by means of drains communicating 
with each, as well as with the barn yard, which 
should be made a little concave in its bed, so 
that no portion of the liquid manure may be 
allowed to escape. A channel should be made 
around the compost heap, which should be close 
by, so that the drainage from it may be collect¬ 
ed in the tank. All the farm buildings should 
have gutters or spouts, which should be so ar¬ 
ranged that the water running from them may 
be conveyed away by a drain, or collected in 
cisterns for the purposes of irrigation, diluting 
Tank.—Fig. 48. 
the urine, or for domestic use. Lastly, let there 
be a pump fixed in the tank, by which its con¬ 
tents can at any time be transferred to a liquid- 
manure cart, or discharged on the compost heap, 
by the use of a hose. 
By an arrangement like the foregoing, all the 
urine from the stables or stalls, and most of the 
wash from the dung heaps and the yards would 
be effectually collected, which might either be 
allowed to ferment spontaneously, the ammo¬ 
nia generated being converted into a sulphate, 
from time to time, by the addition of sulphuric 
acid, gypsum, or copperas, (sulphate of iron,) 
or it may be diluted with water, by which means 
much of the ammonia would be retained in solu¬ 
tion as a carbonate—the former being the most 
effectual mode of securing the ammonia in the 
liquid. If nothing is used to fix the ammonia, 
it would be advisable to have the tank divided 
in the middle, allowing the urine or drainings 
to accumulate, diluted with three times its bulk 
of water, until one division is full; this should 
be allowed to ferment for six weeks, when it 
will be fit to apply to the land as a top-dressing; 
the water used to dilute it retaining in solution 
most of the ammonia generated by the decom¬ 
position of the urea. If this arrangement be 
Liquid-Manure Cart.—Fig. 49. 
adopted, it will be necessary that the drains 
should be made to communicate with either di¬ 
vision of the tank, at pleasure; this may be 
effected by making the main drain divide into 
two branches near the partition in the tank, 
with a sluce placed in dach branch of the 
drain leading to the separate divisions, so that 
the liquid may be discharged into either divis¬ 
ion ; the pump, also, should have a moveable 
pipe, or should be moveable itself, so that either 
division of the tank may be pumped out at will. 
In applying this manure, where the soil is 
light and not deficient in organic matter, loam, 
or mould, it would be advisable to administer it 
in a liquid form; but where the land is stiff 
and clayey, its application in the form of acom- 
post will be found most serviceable, as it then 
renders the soil lighter, more porous, and of easv 
cultivation. To the farmer possessing light 
soils, liquid manure from the tank, with the am¬ 
monia properly converted into a sulphate by 
the use of gypsum or sulphuric acid, will be 
found of great value. It may be applied to the 
land with a liquid-manure cart or a hand tub, 
denoted by the accompanying cuts, just before 
the last plowing for the seed, or as a top-dressing 
for the young crops; particularly, when they are 
looking yellow and sickly; but let this impor¬ 
tant fact in regard to the application of liquid 
manures, always be borne in mind : Thai it 
