158 
THE PREPARATION AND USE OF MANURES. 
BY WILLIS GAYLORD, 
Associate Editor of the Cultivator. 
(Continued from page 143.) 
Use of Peat or Swamp Muck.— According to Mr. 
Colmah, in his Fourth Report, two-thirds of the manure 
used on the extensive garden and farm of Mr. Cushing, 
near Boston, is made from meadow muck or peat. The 
compost, for top dressing meadow and grass lands, is 
made by taking the muck from the pit in August or Sep¬ 
tember, where it lies to the next year. The compost 
heap is then made on some convenient place, by spread¬ 
ing a layer of muck eight inches thick; on the muck four 
inches of ashes; then another layer of muck, and so on 
for five layers, making a pile live feet high, in the form 
of a ridge. This lies through the winter, is opened and 
mixed in the spring, and the next fait is spread on the land. 
The compost for plowed lands is made of two-thirds muck 
and one-third manure. Fresh manure, or that which has 
not fermented, is always used, and care is taken not to put 
in so much muck as to prevent the compost's heating. The 
fermentation of the manure decomposes the muck rapidly, 
and when this is done, the compost is fit for the land. 
Horse manure or unslacked lime, accelerates the fermen¬ 
tation—colder manure retards it. It is the opinion of 
Mr. Cushing and his gardener, that muck for mixing 
with cow dung, or for putting in hog styes, should be 
dug from the swamp six months before using, as the ac¬ 
tion of the atmosphere facilitates the change necessary. 
Muck, without this preparatory fermentation, they con¬ 
sider of little importance as a manure. 
POND MUD. 
Pond mud, although not as rich in vegetable matter or 
hunius as swamp muck or peat, is still one of the most 
valuable of fertilizers. The quantity of earthy matters 
it contains, is rather an advantage than otherwise, when 
applied to light or sandy soils, and will rarely be found 
injurious on anj'. As a manure, the action of pond mud 
is more immediate than that of unfermented muck,owing 
to the much greater proportion of salts and silicates it 
contains. It is astonishing what quantities of this ma¬ 
nure are lying worse than useless in the thousands of 
mill ponds in our country. In the winter of 1839-40, 
Mr. Whalen of Saratoga co., drew from a pond on the 
Kayaderosseras creek, 1,000 loads of iiond muck, and put 
it on a field of 17 acres; soil light and sandy, or gravelly, 
and reduced by skinning until it would produce nothing 
but sorrel and mullein. This field, planted to corn, gave 
him 850 bushels. The extra product from the use of 
this manure, he estimated at twenty bushels {)er acre. In 
the winter of 1840-41, he took from the same pond 700 
loads, and applied it to two other fields, and with simi¬ 
lar results. Mr. Whalen has also, at different times, 
drawn 800 loads of mucic from an ash swale, and found 
it to nearly or quite equal in its effect on vegetation, the 
pond mud. After the corn, Mr. ^Vhalen has unifoi-mly 
grown oais; and on these worn out lands, where he form¬ 
erly would have lost his seed oats, as well as the grass 
seeds used, he has been successful, both taking well 
where the mud or muck had been used. For heavy 
loams or clay, Mr. Whalen is of the opinion that a mix¬ 
ture of lime or yard manure, with the muck or mud, 
woulil be indispensable. This mixture, the experience 
of Mr. Clark of Northampton, and others, shows, is well 
effected by placing the muck in the cattle yards or i)ig 
styes, to be incorporated with the manures b)”^ the feet or 
noses of the animals, and to act as absorbents of the u- 
riqe and soluble matters that are too frequently lost. 
NIGHT SOIL. 
Night soil, or the contents of privies, is one of the 
most powerful and valuable of manures; but prejudices, 
combined with the difficulties formerly attending its use, 
have prevented much attention to it in England or the 
United Stales, until within a few years. In consequence, 
a substance of the greatest importance to the farmer has 
been regarded as a nuisance, and, in the vicinity of large 
cities, has truly been so. Now, since science has taught 
the mode of preparing it for use, its use is becoming ge¬ 
neral, and its value fully appreciated. According to the 
analysis of manures, made by Boussingault and by Dr. 
Dana, there is no manure ordinarily accessible to^ the 
farmer so rich in the carbonates or salts of ammonia as 
this. This will be seen by comtiaring it with horse dung, 
the value of which is well understood. 
Horse Manure. Night Soil. 
Geine,. 27. 
Salts, ..96 i'qo 
Carbonate of ammonia, .... 3.24 lo.32 
hog dung. 
The dung of the fattening hog approaches night soil 
in value, more nearly than any other; indeed. Dr. Dana 
supposes that for all the purposes of analysis, these may 
be arranged under one head. In practical use. Von Thaer, 
on the Prussian government farm, determined by .expe¬ 
riment its comparative value as follows: If a soil with¬ 
out manure, would yield three bushels of produce for 
one sown, manured with different substances the result 
was, 
Without manure,. 3 for 1 sown. 
With cow dung,... 7 “ 1 
With horse dung, . .. 10 “ 1 “ 
With night soil,. 14 “ 1 “ 
comparative value of night soil. 
In some experiments made by Arthur Yoqng, and de¬ 
tailed in the Annals of Agriculture, the effect of this ma¬ 
nure on wheat was as follow'; 
Simple soil, per acre,.. 12^ bush. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Bushels of night soil,. 320 37i bush. 
“ “ .. 240 32i “ 
“ “ ... 160 3li « 
Cubic yards of farm yard compost, 60 25 “ 
“■ “ 30 23,f “ 
30 do. and 1 cubic yard of chalk,.... 25 “ 
Applied to potatoes, the results were not less decisive: 
Simple'soil produced per acre,. 120 bush. 
Night soil, 10 wmgon loads,. 600 “ 
Bones, 10 “ . 650 “ 
Hog dung, 60 one horse cart loads,. 480 “ 
Yard compost, 60 one horse cart loads,.. 300 “ 
POUDRETTE. 
The most common method of using night soil, or at 
least that in which it is most portable and least offensive, 
is to convert it into poudrette. This is done to the best 
advantage in large manufactories; and hence they are 
usually established in the vicinity of large cities, where 
the original article is easily obtained. Different pro¬ 
cesses are adoi)ted, but the most common is to slowly dry 
the night soil in pans, having previously mixed it with 
plaster or ground peat. The object in adding plaster or 
peat, is to prev'ent the escape of ammonia, on which the 
value of the manure is mainly depending. The dried 
mass is then pulverized—is perfectly inoderous, resem¬ 
bles a dry brownish jjowder, and may be used broadcast 
or in drills. In Paris, a powerful manure is made, also 
called ])oudrette, by boiling the offals of the slaughter 
houses into a thick soup, making this into a stiff paste by 
stirring in coal ashes, then drying and grinding. 
URATE. 
Urate is a manure formed from a compound of urine, 
sand and plaster of Paris. In Paris, where the manufac¬ 
ture is most perfect, the g 3 ''psum is burnt previous to u- 
sing. The value of the urates, as a manure, w'ill be bet¬ 
ter understood from the annexed table. 
Water,.65. 
U rea,. 5. 
Bone dust,. 5. 
Sal ammoniac and muriate of potash,. 15. 
Sulphate of potash,. 6. 
Carbonate of potash and ammonia,. ' ... 5. 
100 
From this, it will be seen that urate abounds in those 
substances most necessary to give fertility to soils. Dr. 
Dana remarks that a cord of loam, saturated with urine, 
is equal to a cord of the best rotted dung; and in some 
experiments made by the French Royal Society of Ag¬ 
riculture, which may be found detailed in the Dictimi- 
naire d’Agriculture Pratique, Paris, 1828, for thejiurjiose 
of comparing it with night soil, pigeon's dung, &c., 
known to be very effective, the result was in favor of the 
urate. When mixed with dried night soil or poudrette, 
its effect on various crops was very great. From the ex¬ 
periments there instituted, it appearetl that urate alone 
acted most favorablj’^ in moist seasons. It must be re¬ 
membered, however, that night soil, when properly pre- 
jiared, retains all tile urine, or rather its fertilizing quali¬ 
ties; and the fact that urine is of itself so valuable a ma¬ 
nure, should put farmers on their guard against suffering 
it to be lost from their stables and yards, as is usually done. 
USE OF night soil. 
Where the farmer is so situated that no poudrette 
manufactories are within his reach, he will find that by 
making it into a compost with swamp muck, ashes, peat 
or gypsum, he w'ill have a manure that may be easily aji- 
plied, and which will jiossess great fertilizing powers. 
The Chinese have long been celebrated for the extensive 
use of night soil. Their method is to make it into cakes 
with a rich marl, which, when dried in the sun, consti¬ 
tute a regular article of traffic, almost a legal tender. The 
Flemings were the first of the Europeans to make a com¬ 
mon use of night soil as a manure, and hence its name 
of Flemish manure. There it is applied directly, and 
without preparation, to anj' ci op for which manure is 
wanted; and the superiority of Flemish agriculture, and 
the great fertility of their soils, may be, in a great mea¬ 
sure, attributed to their careful saving and use of matters 
which others have been most anxious to be freed from. 
In Spain, the celebrated asparagus of Saragossa is grown 
on beds of loose gravel and sand, but a little above the 
flow of the tiile; but these beds are heavily manured, af¬ 
ter the cutting of the season is closed, with fresh night 
soil dug in, and thus their fertility is sustained, and the 
unrivaled character of the Saragossa asparagus maintained. 
BONF-S. 
Bones, ground or crushed, form another powerful ma¬ 
nure; and although but little used as yet in this country, 
there are some indications, such as the erection of mills 
for crushing them, that their use will soon become ex¬ 
tensive, and our farmers be saved the mortifying specta¬ 
cle, so long witnessed here, of seeing ship loatls of bones 
exported to Europe, used by farmers there, ami returned 
to us in the protlucts of the soil. Col. St. Leger of 
Wormsworlh, was the first to introduce bone manuring 
into England, in 1775; but it was many years before 
their value was fully understood; and it was only in con¬ 
nection with the turnep culture, that they came into gen¬ 
eral use. The manner in which bones act as manures, 
and their value, will be best seen by a statement of their 
constituents. The bones of the ox, according to Berze¬ 
lius, contain in 100 parts: 
Cartilage,. 33-3 
Phosphate of lime,... . l>5-35 
Filiate of lime,..... 3. 
Carbonate of lime,. 3-35 
Phosphate of magnesia,. 2-03 
•Soda, with a little common salt,. 2-45 
100 - 
The analysis of Fourcroy and Vauquelin, 
Gelatine and oil,. 
Phosphate of lime,. 
Carbonate of lime,... 
Phosphate of magnesia, . 
gives: 
••• 51- 
37-7 
... 10 - 
... 1-3 
100 - 
Johnson, in his lately published work on Fertilizers} 
says: “ Dry bones contain about two-thirds their weight 
of earthy matter, the other third chiefly of animal mat¬ 
ter, resembling glue. Of the earthy matter, five-sixths 
consists of phosphate of lime and magnesia. A ton of 
bone dust, contains of 
Animal matter, about. 746 lbs. 
Phosphate of lime, &c. . 1,245 lbs. 
Carbonate of lime, &c. 249 lbs. 
Bones, however, vary somewhat in their constituents, 
some containing more of the earthy, and others more of 
the animal parts; lake those of the calf and the elk for 
examples, to which the teeth of the horse are added. 
Phospatc of lime, Carbonate of lime. Animal mailer. 
Calf,. 54. 46. 
Elk,. 90. 1, 9. 
Teeth,. 85.5 15.5 
USE OF BONES. 
It is evident then, that bones abound in matters capa¬ 
ble of producing ammonia. Dr. Dana estimates its pow¬ 
er in this resjiect to be equal to 8 or 10 times that of cow 
dung, while, if the salts are regarded, 100 lbs. of bones 
contain nearly 66 times as much as the same quantity of 
cow dung. Experience proves that the power of aiding 
crops, between dung and bones, is about in the propor¬ 
tion of the constituents named. It is evident that much 
of the value of bones depend on their cartilage. Boiling 
bones, as generally practiced, has but little effect in ex¬ 
tracting the gelatine; and does not remove even all the 
fat or oil. Under high pressure, as in Papius's digester, 
the separation of the animal from the earthy matter is 
complete. The finer bones can be crushed or ground, 
the better or quicker will their influence be felt; and 
boiling, by removing the exterior cartilage and fat, ren¬ 
ders the crushing more perfect. It is owing to this 
cause, undoubtedly, that many of the English agricultu¬ 
rists prefer dry to fresh bones; as the dust made from 
the former, is more suitable for sowing or drilling with 
seeds, than that of the latter. Bone dust is the most effi¬ 
cient on light and diy soils. It has been found also very 
useful on limestone soils and light loams; but on heavy 
clay or wet soils, this manure does little or no good. 
Bone dust is one of the most efficient manures on clover, 
particular])' the white clover; exceeding gypsum in its 
effects on this plant. This is accounted for by the fact, 
that white clover abounds in phosphate of lime; and the 
phosphates of bones supply it in abundance. Although 
principally employed as a manure for tnrneps, in conse¬ 
quence of their importance in a rotation of ci-ops for the 
animals of the farm, particularly sheep, it is considered 
by many farmers quite as useful, employed as a manure 
for potatoes, as it is for turneps. Bones are found to be 
more valuable, if subjected to a partial fermentation be¬ 
fore being applied to the crops. If mixed with five or 
six times their weight of vegetable mold or fine rich 
earth, and turned over for several times for a few weeks 
before using, the value is much increased. Since the ge¬ 
neral use of bones has been introduced into England,vast 
quantities are gathered and imported from all parls of 
the world. As an instance of this traffic, it may be men¬ 
tioned that at Hull alone, in 1815, 8,000 Ions of bones 
were imported; and this amount, at the same place, had 
increased in 1835, to 27,600 tons. 
GUANO. 
Guano is another manure of animal oiigin, which has 
lately been brought to notice. It is the excrement of sea 
birds; and the immense masses of it existing on the 
rocky isles of the Pacific, in the vicinit)' of Arica in Pe¬ 
ru, are the accumulations of centuries. That, in tliis 
state, it differs from the newer excrements, can scarcely 
be questioned, as the action of the atmosphere must have 
produced many chemical changes during the lapse of 
3 -ears. Analysis shows it to consist chiefly of insoluble 
and soluble salts, chiefly phosphate of lime and organic 
matter, or salts 32 parts, and organic matter, 68. A large 
portion of the organic matter is uric acid and ammonia; 
and regarded as a niamire, it may be considered as a urate 
of ammonia. It appears as a fine brownish powder,with 
a strong marine or fishy smell, and gives off ammoniacal 
fumes when heated. Several ship loads of this manure 
have been carried to England; anti the experiments 
show, what indeed the analysis would jirove, that it is to 
be classed among the most efficient of manures. It has 
succeeded well, whether applied to grain, grasses, or to 
roots. There is no necessity of enlarging on this manure 
here, as it is not probable that it will ever he inlrodiiced 
to any extent inlo the United States, while we have so 
many easily- accessible sources of fertility that have as 
yet hardly been louched, among us. It may- be men¬ 
tioned in (his jfface, that the dung of domestic fowls is 
one of tlie most valuable of farm manures, far exceeding 
in ])ower even that of the hog or liorse; and though not 
equal to guano in ammonia, jirobably from there not be¬ 
ing as much animal food used in its production, still 
deserving more attention in this respect that it has re¬ 
ceived. 
VARIOUS ANIMAL PRODUCTS. 
All animal products, capable of putrefaction or decom¬ 
position,can be converted into manures; fish, flesh, gristle, 
sinews, skin, liorns, hair, wool, and indeed all animal 
solids or fluids are of this charaeler. The man who al¬ 
lows his dead animals to pulrify and waste away above 
ground, is guilty of great improvidence; and converts 
