55o 
1 H E RURAL N E W-Y O R K E R 
September 1 
EFFECT OF LIQUID MANURE. 
WHY ITS RKSULTS AKK NOT ALWAYS ATPAKENT. 
I read that tne urine from a covr contains more fertlllilne material 
than her solid excrement. If this Is so, why can we not see the effsct 
In last year’s psrture, where she urinated as well as where she TOlded 
dunK? I read, too. that the urine contains a larne part Of the nitro¬ 
gen : that a liberal application of nltrosten may be seen within 24 
hours of Us application by a deeper Kreen of the plants, and that 
nltroKen Is the stimulant part of the fertilizer. It this Is true why 
does not glass begin at once to grow luxuriantly where the cow 
urinates? I never saw any effect of urine upon pasture unless the cow 
had recently eaten a considerable quantity of salt, In which case the 
grass Is deadened. o. G. G. 
Vail, N. .1. 
R N.-Y—The better to understand what follows, 
we give the analyses of fresh cow’s dung and urine : 
POUNDS IN 1,000. 
Nitrogen. Potash. Phos. acid. 
Fresh dung.2.9 1.0 1.7 
Urine.6.8 4.9 .... 
It will thus be seen that the greater part of the nitro¬ 
gen and potash pass away m the urine. It is not a 
well balanced manure, however, as it contains no 
phosphoric acid. As to the visible effect of urine on 
grass, we have certainly noticed it in pastures. We 
have often examined the thick, rank clumps of grass, 
and found no evidence of dung about them. 
Urine Does Force the Grass. 
From previous observations, and from those I have 
just made in our own pasture field, I do not find that 
all of the dark green hunches of grass in pastures are 
caused by the dung of animals. Many of these 
bunches do not show any trace whatever of solid ex¬ 
crement, and were undoubtedly caused by urine. 
The urine is not so sure to produce good effects im¬ 
mediately as the solid excrement; in fact, the first 
effect of the urine is often a positive injury. Plants 
can have too much available plant food as well as too 
little. A superabundance of plant food may be fatal 
to the life of the plant at once, while the absence of 
food would cause it to starve to death slowly. To 
illustrate this point a little more fully, the case of 
water culture of plants may be cited. In this, plants 
are grown in pure water, to which a little plant food 
is added from time to time; under these conditions 
the plant will thrive and produce seeds. Should this 
water be replaced by urine or the concentrated 
leachings from manure pits, the life of the plant 
would be endangered at once This is virtually what 
happens when a large quantity of urine is deposited 
on a limited area of a dry pasture field. The ground 
is so dry that the urine does not pass far into the soil, 
and that portion that passes farthest into the soil is 
again brought to the surface and concentrated by 
evaporation, to an extent that is fatal to the grass. 
Should the ground be wet, the urine would be dis¬ 
seminated by means of the water in the soil, so that 
beneficial results will follow at once. 
Liquid manures should be applied to growing crops 
if possible. The plant food contained in liquids is 
readily available, and unless there are plants to take 
it up, there is more danger of loss than there would 
be from manures where the plant food is not avail¬ 
able. All things considered, there is no crop to which 
liquid manure can be applied with better results than 
grass land. The roots of the grasses grow at a lower 
temperature than the roots of most of our cultivated 
crops. As the expense of applying liquid manure is 
the chief objection to applying fertility in this form, 
it is of great advantage to apply it to the crops on 
which the largest part of the labor can be done by 
horse power. Grass land offers more opportunities 
for applying liquid manure cheaply and through a 
longer season than almost any other crop. 
Cornell University. georgk c. watson. 
Urine an Incomplete Fertilizer. 
Urine is not a complete fertilizer, and like all in¬ 
complete fertilizers, unless directly or indirectly sup¬ 
plemented by matters containing the lacking elements, 
it may produce no discernible effect when applied to a 
plant. Urine is essentially a watery solution of cer¬ 
tain organic matters and salts, of which the most 
abundant is urea. Urea, in its decomposition may, and 
commonly does, give free ammonia, or ammonia com¬ 
pounds, of great value to plant growth when combined 
or associated with the other elements required. But 
when net so associated, it may produce no noticeable 
effect whatever. 
The fact that incomplete fertilizers, however valu¬ 
able, are incapable of producing desired effects upon 
plant growth, is, perhaps, the one thing hardest to 
get into the mind and memory of the scientifically un¬ 
educated farmer. Urine, in its decomposition, supplies 
the most costly of all the plant foods ; but in order to 
do the good to the crop which it should, it must be so 
combined or conjoined with potash and phosphoric 
acid, as to make a complete fertilizer. When in as¬ 
sociation with the bowel excrement, or dung, it is a 
complete fertilizer, and produces its full natural effect, 
under proper condit ons. Otherwise, no noticeable 
results are to be expected. 
Dung, on the other hand, always, uiider proper con¬ 
ditions, produces an evident effect upon plant growth; 
yet, when not combined with urine, it may not give 
its full effect, from lack of a due proportion of nitro¬ 
gen. The nitrogen in dung is not immediately avail¬ 
able. The dung must be decomposed before the plant 
can take it up. The same is true of the urine, with 
this difference, that its decomposition is much more 
easy and rapid. We often notice, in a pasture, that 
where a cow dungs and urinates on the same spot, a 
very rank growth of grass will follow; so rank that 
the cattle pass it by, and it goes to seed. In another 
spot, we may see where the dung alone was dropped 
and a less rank growth followed, the grass will be 
cropped after the rain has deprived the dung of its 
offensiveness. Still another case is that referred to 
above, where no observable improvement follows upon 
spots where urine alone was dropped, for the reasons 
given above. Unless these reasons are known and 
understood, the observer will naturally think that 
urine has no manurial value whatever; and he will 
be inclined to give no care to its preservation and ap¬ 
plication. B at every farmer of experience and thought, 
sees many instances which fully satisfy him of the 
usefulness of urine, even when he may also note 
others of an opposite appearance. 
As to the separate application of urine as a fertilizer 
to particular crops, my own experience leads me to 
value it most highly for market garden crops, and for 
small fruits. It pushes rhubarb, asparagus, celery, 
spinach, etc., tremendously ; but it ought not usually 
to be applied to these, or any annual crop while in 
full growth. Rhubarb will stand it when poured 
freely about the roots. Currant and gooseberry bushes 
respond to it in the same way ; and so do fruit and 
ornamental trees and shrubs. I have never seen it do 
any harm, although, on quite level spots, too much, 
especially in hot weather, might cause injury. Many 
years ago I advised in print the excavation of earth 
from beneath old barns and stables for use as manure, 
and was very successful in its use myself. But many 
claimed that it produced very little effect. This I at¬ 
tribute to its not being a complete fertilizer, the nitrog¬ 
enous matter having disappeared. t. h. hoskins. 
Vermont. 
Effects of Urine On Grass. 
Johnston, in his Agricultural Chemistry (published 
in 1844) on page 462, while placing an extremely high 
value on urine as a manure, says that experience has 
shown that recent urine exercises an unfavorable 
action upon growing plants. It acts most beneficially 
when diluted with its own bulk of water, and allowed 
to ferment a few days before being used. The reason 
for this is that urea, the principal nitrogenous ingred¬ 
ient in urine, is not readily appropriated by plants. 
But when the urine is diluted with water and 
allowed to ferment, the urea, of which there are four 
pounds in every one hundred pounds of urine, is 
changed entirely into carbonate of ammonia. That the 
dilution with water is absolutely essential to the re¬ 
tention of the ammonia, that the quantity of ammonia 
retained by the urine after dilution was three times as 
great as when it was allowed to ferment in the state 
in which it came from the cow, and whether modern 
chemistry confirms the teachings of 50 years ago, I am 
unable to say. 
I asked an old farmer G. G. G.’s questions, and he 
said that urine did make grass grow ranker ; that in 
old pastures are found rank spots not caused by the 
droppings, and these rank spots can be besi accounted 
for by attributing them to the effects of urine. A 
teacher once said to his class, “Verify your inferences, 
and when you have verified your inferences, then 
verify your facts.” Before we enter very largely upon 
the philosophical discussion of the question, we would 
better determine wuat are the facts in the case. 
Even when we have determined them, so long as we 
pasture our cows, we shall not be likely to change our 
summer method of applying urine. If I could use 
urine separately I would apply it on meadow grass 
every time. chas. r. beach. 
Whitewater, Wis. 
BRINGING A VINEYARD TO LIFE. 
WHAT GREEN MANURING AND GOOD CULTURE DID. 
On page 530 of The R. N.-Y., we referrea to the ex¬ 
perience with Crimson clover given by Mr. G Sshoen- 
feld, of Chautauqua County, N. Y. Mr. S. is well 
known throughout the grape region as a very skillful 
vineyardist. Daring the past few years he has 
brought a neglected vineyard into a high state of cul¬ 
tivation, and grape growers all through western New 
York have been greatly interested to know how it 
was done. Mr. S. has kindly given The R. N.-Y. the 
following facts about this vineyard, which we give 
here in the form of an interview : 
“ We learn that you have had remarkable success 
in improving a vineyard, Mr. Schoenfeld ? ” 
“Tkerp is really nothing very remarkable about 
that much-talked-of vineyard. I simply formed a 
plausible theory, and jumped to a conclusion which 
happened to be the right one.” 
“ Dow did the vineyard look when you bought it ?” 
“In the spring of 1891 I came into possession of six ^ 
acres of land, on which was a Concord vineyard of 900 
vines, planted six years. The land is a heavy clay 
loam, formerly a brickyard. The vines were not 
looking very well, and had made but a small growth 
the preceding years, while the adjoining vineyards 
looked well. The tendency toward ’ low prices for 
grapes did not warrant an extra outlay for fertilizer, 
and I was not satisfied that the land really needed it, 
as it contained potash, soda, magnesia, iron and other 
substances that really ought to make it the best of 
vineyard land.” 
“ How had the vines been pruned ?” 
“ According to the tree system, giving each vine 
from two to four canes with six buds each, which is 
the general practice in the grape belt; that is, an arm 
of old wood is tied down each way from the vine on 
the lower wire from which two to ten young canes of 
the preceding year, 2 to 2}4 feet long each, are tied 
perpendicularly to the upper wire.” 
“ How did the first crop turn out ?” 
“ During the season, the vineyard was taken care of 
and cultivated twice every three weeks. All this 
labor resulted in the production of 400 9-pound bas¬ 
kets of grapes, which netted $76.38 ; 
BXPJENSHS FOR 1891. 
I’rnnlnK and tylDR..15.00 
ElRht times cultlvatlDR.8.00 
■ Twice hoeinK. 8.00 
One plowlnK and harrowlDK. 3.50 
Interest on vineyard.30.00 
Baskets.12.00 
PlcklDK, packing and delivering to tne depot.12.00 
Total.873.10 
Making a profit ot 12.88. 
By following this practice, I found that an acre of 
vineyard producing 1,000 baskets of nine pounds each, 
would bring the cost of production per basket delivered 
to the depot to 11 cents per basket. At current prices, 
it certainly was not a paying business.” 
“ What plans did you make for work?” 
“ My theory was that by continued clean cultivation, 
the land bee ame too compact; the roots of the vines 
were literally choked to death for want of air, and 
the plant food, while within reach, either could not 
be assimilated, or was not available. I concluded that 
a green crop plowed under would remedy this, and 
cheapen the cost of production, by making less labor. 
At the time of last cultivation, August 20, I sowed a 
bushel of rye, which was not plowed under until May 
20 the following spring. The vineyard was then culti¬ 
vated only once the first week in July, and. on August 
15 I plowed and again sowed with one bushel of rye, 
the result of which was 1,184 baskets of grapes, net 
receipts $188 86. 
EXPENSES, SEASON 1892. 
PruDlog and tying.85.00 
Plowing under rye .3.50 
Cultivating ... 1..50 
Plowing, harrowing and sowing the rye. 4.50 
Interest.30.00 
Baskets. 35.52 
Picking, packing, and delivering to the depot. 35.52 
Total. . 1115.54 
Making a profit ot $73.32. 
“During the season of 1893, I followed the same 
practice a s the preceding year with the exception of 
sowing Crimson clover instead of rye. I reasoned that 
the process of rotting^ the green crop, accomplished 
the same result as frequent cultivation by keeping the 
surface loose and preserving the moisture by con¬ 
tinued movements of the particles of the earth as they 
follow the shrinkage in the rotting process of the 
green crop. The result in 1893 was 1,299 baskets of 
grapes ; net receipts, $143 60. 
EXPENSES, SEASON 1893. 
Pruning and tying.$5.00 
Plowing under rye. 3.50 
Cultivating.-. 1.50 
Plowing and harrowing. 3.50 
Crimson clover seed, 30 pounds—and freight. 2.80 
Interest.30.00 
Picking, packing and delivering to depot.38.97 
Baskets.38.97 
Total...$124.24 
Making a profit of $19.36. 
During all this time, the vines have increased in vigor 
and this spring I concluded to give them more to do. 
I increased the length of the canes to three feet, six 
and eight canes to the vine. The growth and vigor 
are remarkable ; full-grown leaves measure 13 inches 
across, and are of that peculiar dark green color that 
seems almost black. The clusters and berries are 
large and well set, showing to me thut the Crimson 
clover furnished something more than humus, and is 
without doubt a great deal better than rye. I estimate 
that we shall pick and pack nearly 2,000 baskets of 
fruit. I will give The R. N.-Y. the result when 
accomplished.” 
“ We shall certainly be pleased to learn the result 
of this experiment.” 
