142 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Ipri^e Otssag. 
THE PREPARATION AND USE OF MANURES. 
BY WILLIS GAYLORD, 
Associate'Editor of the Cultivator. 
Introduction. —Of all the pursuits to which man¬ 
kind, from necessity or inclination, have devoted them¬ 
selves, there is none more honorable,—certainly none 
more useful,—than that of agriculture. To pursue this 
business successfully, knowledge, extensive and varied, 
is required; for, although a man may succeed by follow¬ 
ing the beaten paths of his predecessors, occasions will 
frequently arise, when the end desired may be attained 
by methods much shorter than those usually adopted, if 
the farmer is able to form and apply them. It is here 
that science has, within a few years, rendered the most 
essential aid to agriculture. Sometimes, reasoning from 
well known effects to their causes, the agricultural che¬ 
mist has placed in the hands of the farmer the means of 
producing results, alwa 5 's desirable, but which, under the 
older S 3 ^stems of farming, with his utmost care, he fre¬ 
quently failed of obtaining. Again, taking well estab¬ 
lished facts in animal or vegetable phisiology as his 
starting point, he has arrived at results of the highest 
practical importance, and is enabled to render more cer¬ 
tain and effective the more tardy operations of nature. 
In no department of agricultural indiistiy, it is believed, 
have the labors of science been more beneficial or more ap¬ 
parent than in that of the preparation and use of manures; 
certain it is, there is no department more deserving at¬ 
tention, or where an elucidation of the principles and 
laws that govern the growth of plants, acts with a more 
direct and energetic influence. 
DEFINITIONS. 
A definition of the term manure, may be necessary, in 
order to treat the subject understanding!}’, as different in¬ 
dividuals use the word in widely different senses, some 
in a wide, and some in a limited one. A few instances of 
the meaning put upon the term will be given from a few 
of the modern writers who hav'e adverted to this topic. 
Thus Dr. Leiber, in his German Conversationes Lexicon, 
defines manure to be ‘‘vegetable, animal and mineral 
matters, introduced into the soil to accelerate vegetation, 
and increase the production of crops.” The Encyclope¬ 
dia, published by the London Society for the Promotion 
of Useful Knowledge, thus defines it“ Every substance 
which has been used to improve the natural soil, or to 
restore to it the fertility which is diminished by the crops 
annually carried away, has been included in the name of 
manure.” Loudon, in his great work on Agriculture, 
says—“ Every species of matter capable of promoting 
the growth of vegetables, may be considered as manure.” 
Prof. Low, in his Elements of Agriculture, says—“ All 
substances, which when mixed with the matter of the 
soil, tend to fertilize it, are in common language termed 
manures.” Mr. Johnson, in his “ Farmer’s E .cyclope¬ 
dia,” lately published, says—“ A manure may be defined 
to be any fertilizing compound or simple ingredient ad¬ 
ded to a soil, of which it is naturally deficient.” The 
definitions of Prof. Liebig and Dr. Dana, two of the la¬ 
test writers on the subject, do not differ essentially from 
those already given. Of these definitions, I prefer the 
most simple and comprehensive, that of Loudon, and in 
this paper shall consider the term manure, as embracing 
every substance capable of promoting the growth of 
plants. 
CLASSIFICATION. 
Manures, by some, are classed as earthy, organic and 
saline; others divide them into animal and vegetable, 
mineral and mixed manures, and some speak of them as 
composed only of geine or humus and sails. Others 
class them as organic and inorganic; but these divisions 
are of little consequence, as every farmer understands 
that manure is the result of decomposition or change; 
and that, whether organic, that is, derived from animal 
or vegetable matter; or inorganic, such as the earths, 
clay, lime, the alkalies, &c., it is only efficient when pre¬ 
sented to plants in certain forms, such as decomposition, 
division or solution. In France, they have terms to dis¬ 
tinguish those substances which act mechanically in im¬ 
proving the texture of the soil, from those which act di¬ 
rectly in the nourishment of the plant. The former class 
of substances they call amendements, and the latter ones 
etigrais. It is probable, however, that the system which 
considers all manures as consisting of humus or geine, 
and salts, comprehending, in the latter term, all the mi¬ 
neral substances that enter into the growth or nourish¬ 
ment of vegetables, will eventually be found the most 
simple, and at the same time the most accurate of alt the 
proposed divisions of manures. Thus humus constitutes 
the source of the carbon, forming the principal part of 
the structure of plants, and the salts, where they do not 
enter into the structure of plants, are active in pre¬ 
paring the other inorganic elements, and exciting the 
vegetable organs in their reception and appropriation of 
nutriment. 
HUMUS OR GEINE. 
Humus or geine is simply decomposed animal and ve¬ 
getable matter; and as from it, by the action of oxygen, 
carbonic gas is derived, to be absorbed by water and ta¬ 
ken up by the roots, or mixed with the atmosphere and 
taken up by the leaves of plants; or, as some agricultu¬ 
ral chemists with good reason suppose, is under certain 
circumstances dissolved, or is soluble, and thus rendered 
fit for immediate nourishment to plants, it must be con¬ 
sidered the most important item in the production of 
manures. The salts, which are the most efficient maid¬ 
ing vegetation, or the most active manures, are those 
formed from the alkalies and their various combinations. 
Thus, from pure lime or calcium, is formed, by the union 
with carbonic acid, carbonate of lime; with phosphoric 
acid, phosphate of lime, the base of bones,one of the most 
efficient of fertilizers; with sulphuric acid, sulphate of 
lime, or gypsum,, the value of which is well understood; 
and so with the other alkalies, which, in their combina¬ 
tions, form substances of the utmost consequence to 
plants. It is well known that the outer covering of some 
kinds of cane, contain so much flint or silex as to strike 
fire with steel; and some of the grasses contain this sub¬ 
stance in such quantity that their ashes will melt into 
glass with potash. Now, this hardness, so necessary to 
their perfection, could not be attained unless this flint 
had been rendered soluble by union with an alkali, form¬ 
ing a silicate of potash, and by this solubility been ren¬ 
dered fit for the action and appropriation of the plant. 
FOOD OF PLANTS. 
If we would know what kind of food is required by 
plants, one of the first steps necessary is to ascertain of 
what the plants themselves are composed. The combi¬ 
nations of matter may be said to be absolutely endless; but 
the original elements of this multitude of combinations, 
are few in number. Chemistry has detected only some 
fifty-five substances incapable of further reduction, or 
what are calleil simple substances; and of these, strange 
as it may appear, only four, except in proi)ortions merely 
accidental, go to the formation of plants. Of these the 
first is Carbpn. This foi-ms from 40 to 50 per cent by 
weight, of the plants cultivated for food; and is therefore 
most important to animals and to man. The second of 
these simple substances, is Oxijgen, The quantities of 
this substance are immense; and though we are acquaint¬ 
ed with it only in the form in which it exists in the air, 
nearly one-half of the solid crust of the globe, 21 per 
cent of the atmosphere, eight pounds in every nine of 
water, and more than one-half of the living bodies of all 
plants and animals, are oxygen. Hydrogen is the third 
substance peculiar to plants. This is the lightest of 
known substances, and forms a small part of the weight 
of all animal and vegetable bodies; constitutes one-ninth 
part of the weight of water, but enters into the composi¬ 
tion of none of the masses that go to form the crust of the 
globe, coal excepted. The fourth simple substance, en¬ 
tering into the formation of plants, is Nitrogen. This 
forms 79 per cent of the bulk of the atmosphere, consti¬ 
tutes part of most animal and some vegetable substances; 
is found in coal to the amount of one or two per cent, 
but does not exist in any other of the mineral masses 
constituting the crust of the globe. Although not an a- 
bundant substance, the importance of it is not the less de¬ 
cided, and some of its functions are of the most indispen¬ 
sable kind. Plants then, are composed of carbon, oxy¬ 
gen, hydrogen, and nitrogen; the first derived from car¬ 
bonic acid, the second from the atmosphere, the third 
from the decomposition of water, and the fourth from 
ammonia absorbed by water, and taken up by the roots 
of the vegetables. Some of the earths are occasionally 
detected in plants, and salts of some kind are always pre¬ 
sent. In the preparation of manures, the principal ob¬ 
ject to be aimed at, it is evident, must be to supply the 
materials needed to furnish the carbon and the ammonia; 
and these are found in the greatest abundance in dead or 
decomposed animal and vegetable matter. 
LAW OF NUTRITION. 
It seems to be a law of nature, that the higher the 
grade of the animal, or the more complicated its organi¬ 
zation, the greater the necessity of a corresponding de¬ 
gree of organization in the substances used as food; in¬ 
deed the manner in which the crude materials, found 
in the earth and atmosphere, are worked up by plants in¬ 
to a state suitable for conversion into the flesh of animals 
or food for man, exhibits the strongest proofs of benevo¬ 
lent design in the formation of such grades of organized 
matter. Man can, indeed, live on plants, but his teeth 
demonstrate that flesh was to constitute no inconsiderable 
portion of his food. As all animals receive their food, 
either directly or indirectly, from the vegetable kingdom, 
it is evident their excrements, or their decomposed bo¬ 
dies, must form manures of the most valuable kind; and 
it is to this source, the excrements of animals, that the 
farmer must look for his supply of manures to restore 
the fertility of the soil. In treating further of manures, 
it will be best to begin with this, as the most important 
class. 
ANIMAL MANURES. 
A late British writer on agriculture, says“ The chief 
use of cattle on an arable farm, besides those necessary 
for the operations of husdandry, is to produce manure for 
the land. If the cattle repay their food, and the expense 
and risk attending their keep, the manure is sufficient 
profit. Even with a moderate loss, they must be kept, 
when manure cannot be purchased. The loss, if any, on 
the cattle, must be repaid by the increase of the corn 
crops. Manure is to a farm, what daily food is to an ani¬ 
mat; it must be procured at any sacrifice.” Common 
barn-yard or stable manure is the kind to which most 
farmers must look for the fertility of their farms. This 
consists of the droppings of the cattle, mixed with the 
straw used for littering in stables or thrown into the yards 
for the animal to feed or lie upon, the coarser hay and 
weeds refused by the stock, and the urine of the animals 
kept in the stables or yards. This is constantly trampled, 
is usually kept moist if not wet, and is finally decom¬ 
posed, or converted into manure fit for the production of 
crops. This is the most usual course, but it is evident 
that there must, in this method, be a serious loss to the 
farmer, of the more valuable properties of the manure. 
In this way, the decomposition is unequal; a part will 
be converted into mold while the other will be scarcely 
acted upon; the salts and the more soluble parts of the 
excrements, which are the most efficient ones, are dis¬ 
solved by the rains, and carried off by the drains, or lost 
in the earth; and where any considerable degree of heat . 
is evolved, as there will be when the decomposition is 
rapid, or is going on in large masses, the escape of am¬ 
monia, so easily detected by the smell, shows that the 
nitrogen, so essential to the growth and perfection of a 
grain crop, is rapidly wasting. 
PREPARATION. 
To prevent these results, and secure the whole benefit 
of the manure, two methods have been adopted. The 
first consists in applying the manure fresh, or in a long 
state, to the fields it is wished to manure, w'ithout wait¬ 
ing for it to decompose. In this way the manure col¬ 
lected in the yards during the winter, is removed in the 
spring, and applied to such crops as require it the most; 
and as no fermentation ensues in ordinary cases, until the 
commencement of hot weather, two sources of loss at 
least are avoided, those of the washing away of the solu¬ 
ble parts, or their being carried off in the shape of gas. 
Where there exists no necessity for retaining manures 
for other than spring crops, and where the crops cultiva¬ 
ted are such that long manures are suitable for their 
growth and tillage, this mode of. disposing of manures 
must be considered one of the best that can be adopted. 
But in many cases the formation of manures in the yards 
and stables of the farmer is going on the whole year; 
and pi-eservation in masses, or by being scattered in yards 
during the hot months, would be to greatly lessen, if not 
mostly destroy its value. Besides, there are some crops, 
such as some of the root crops, in the cultivation Of which 
experience has proved fully that rotted or decomposed 
manure is far preferable to long manure, as much of it is 
already in a soluble state, and is available to the plants 
at the time they need hastening the most, which is the 
period immediately after germination. When the waste 
of manure is to be prevented during the summer months, 
or it is desirable to provide a quantity of fully rotted ma¬ 
nure, then the second method should be used; and this 
indeed, by many excellent farmers, is considered the 
best in all cases. 
FERMENTATION. 
In this method, the practice is to remove the dung from 
the stables and yards at short intervals, and place it in 
large piles or masses, that the proper fermentation may 
take place previous to its use. When a pile of manure 
is made in this way, the fermentation takes place in the 
quantities applied, as they are successively deposited, 
and therefore does not reach usually that point in which 
material loss is sustained. If it is found that the heat is 
becoming too great, or the fermentation injuriously ra¬ 
pid, so as to cause the escape of ammonia, a layer of 
earth or sods placed over the pile, will retain, by com¬ 
bination, the escaping gases, and thus prevent the loss. 
It has been found a most excellent plan, one which not 
only greatly increases the quantity of manures made in 
this way, but adds to its quality, to mingle with or co¬ 
ver the successive deposits of manure with earth from 
ditches or ponds, peat or muck from swamps, or turf 
from bogs or plowed lands, as such layers, consisting 
mostly of vegetable or animal matters, will, by absorb¬ 
ing the drainings of the manure, or the absorption of the 
escaping gases, be converted into one of the most effi¬ 
cient of fertilizers. The more solid such deposits of ma¬ 
nure are made, the more slow will the fermentation be, 
and hence in unloading, the carts or wagons may be dri¬ 
ven over them if necessary to expedite the work, where 
the immediate use of the manure is not an object. Should 
the dung placed in these heaps be loo slow in ferment¬ 
ing, it may be hastened by opening the piles, or still 
better by making holes in the top, into which the wash 
of the yards and the urine of the stables may be poured. 
This method has another advantage. The manure from 
the yards, if not wanted as long manure, may be removed 
to the fields where it is to be used, at times when the 
men of the farm cannot be otherwise profitably employed, 
and will be at hand, ready fermented in these piles,when 
a further transportation might be difficult if not imprac¬ 
ticable. 
LONG OR ROTTED. 
It is a question of considerable importance to the farm¬ 
er, and one which has been much discussed, whether it 
was better to apply manure in its long state always, or 
or alv/ays allow its full decomposition before using. 
From his own experience, the writer has been led to 
doubt the correctness of either of these positions. It 
seems to be universally admitted that matter, to be effi¬ 
cient as a manure, must be soluble, and it is clear that 
the more solid parts of farm yard manure require to be 
softened by putrefactive fermentation before they can be 
considered in this state. Where, then, the influence of 
manure is required to be felt at once, as on the turnep, 
beet or carrot crops, in order to push them forward at 
the first start beyond the reach of insects, my experience 
is, that the manure should be in a state reducible to pow¬ 
der, in which condition a large portion of it may be ex¬ 
pected to be soluble, and of course at once available by 
the plant. Where, during the fermentative process, the 
mass has been reduced to a black carbonaceous matter, it 
may be inferred that the heat was too great, and the ma¬ 
nure seriously damaged; on the contrary, if the mass, 
while perfectly fine, diy and friable, still retains its dark 
brown color, it will usually be found that none of the 
good qualities have been lost by over-fermentation. 
But where the manure is to b’e applied to crops w’hich 
do not require forcing forward in the early part of their 
growth, but demand as much or perhaps more nutriment 
