404 
FE8 48 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
£avm CfJtmoMi}. 
mm fertility Furthered! 
WILL WISE WESTERNERS FARM 
FOR FUTURITY OR COME 
JO CHEMICALS? * 
Clover Carries Credit Comfortably 
NEW NIGHT-SOIL NOTES. 
Mixing Many Manures 
VS. 
Spreading Several Separately. 
ARE ANIMALS ALIKE AS FERTIL¬ 
IZER FACTORS? 
Exhaustive Experiments, Each Exhibiting 
What Willful Wastes We Warrant. 
HIGH-GRADES HOISTED. LOW- 
GRADES LOWERED. 
DIFFERENCES IN FARM MANURES. 
“Manures from various kinds of animals 
differ considerably in form and someivhat 
in composition. Is it wise economy to mix 
them all together, or stiould we apply them 
separately, giving to each crop the manure 
that seems best adapted to it ?” 
FROM PROF. I. P. ROBERTS. 
The value of farm manures depends on so 
many conditions that it is hardly possible to 
make any accurate comparisons between the 
value of the excrements of the various kinds 
of domesticated animals. Still, a discussion of 
the subject, and of the best methods of pre¬ 
serving and applying them, may be of great 
benefit. Other things being equal, the follow¬ 
ing will be found to hold true in most cases. 
1. The value of manure is modified by the 
amount of food given to the animal. .Liber¬ 
ally fed animals produce not only more, but 
better manure than poorly fed ones. 
2. Animals fed on foods rich in protein— 
or nitrogen—and concentrated foods, furnish 
far more valuable voidings than do those 
which are fed on straw, roots and the like. 
3. Animals giving large amounts of milk 
produce poorer manure than any others of 
their kind, except animals from one to four 
weeks old. 
4. Animals fed so sparingly that they 
neither increase in weight nor produce any¬ 
thing but manure, return to the manure heap 
all of the fertilizing elements which wereccn- 
tained in the food consumed, but the quantity 
is always very small. 
The following table gives a fair average of 
the percentage of the manurial elements Of 
the foods consumed, found in the voidings of 
the classes of animals named below: 
Calves—1 to 4 weeks old, 
Milch cows. 
Growing animals—1 to 3 years, 
Fattening animals—mature, 
Mature animals—not gaining, 
or producing, 
20 per i 
cent. 
80 
44 
(4 
90 
»< 
(4 
95 
44 
(4 
100 
44 
The following table gives approximately 
the weight of solid and liquid voidings,for one 
year, of the animals named,according to Mor¬ 
ton’s Cyclopedia. 
Solids Liquid Tons 
Horse, 12,000 3,000 7.50 
Cow,some succulent food, 20,000 8,000 14.00 
Sheep, 760 380 0.57 
Hog, 1,800 1,200 1.50 
At the Cornell University Experiment 
Station three cows, weighing 3,570 pounds ? 
ate in three days .122 pounds of clover hay, 
41 pounds of corn-stalks, 45 pounds of cotton¬ 
seed-meal, 42 pounds of corn-meal and 42 
pounds of malt sprouts. The yield of milk 
was 285 pounds, or an average of 31% pounds 
per cow per day, and the product of manure 
for each cow per day was 89 1-9 pounds, and 
each drank S3% pounds of water. The foods 
were analyzed and the manure valued,accord¬ 
ing to the first table given above, and it was 
found that each cow produced manure worth 
16 7-9 cents per day. The mixed manure of 
the classes of animals named above, weighs 
about twice as much as the air-dried food fed 
to them. 
The value of manure computed at commer¬ 
cial prices for nitrogen, potash and phosphoric 
acid, is equal to, or exceeds one-half the cost 
of the food used. Manure from corn-fed pigs 
is an exception to this rule. The urine of 
herbivorous animals is rich in substances 
which tend to develop the stem and leaf, and 
deficient in those which produce seeds, hence 
it is often used to force plants in the early 
stages of their growth. Solid excrements are 
comparatively rich in humus and seed-form¬ 
ing principles and deficient in power to pro¬ 
duce leaves and stems. Happily liquid drop¬ 
pings decompose much more rapidly than the 
solid, so if we are wise enough to apply the 
liquids and solids together, the plant will re¬ 
ceive just the kind of nourishment it wants 
both in its earlier and later stages of develop¬ 
ment. To show the great loss of manure 
when not properly cared for, I quote the 
following from experiments conducted in 
Europe— 
Five tons of fresh manure contained 
40 pounds of nitrogen. 
When half rotted, 35 “ “ 
In cheesy state, 25 “ “ 
Fully decomposed 20 “ “ 
While the nitrogen had been reduced one- 
half, the total weight of the manure had been 
reduced still more, so unless proper care is 
taken in the rotting of manure, it will be bet¬ 
ter to apply it direct from the stable. Few 
barns are yet so arranged that the manures 
from the various animals are economically 
mixed as the stables are cleaned out; but 
where it can be done at slight expense 
it should be done, for it will be found 
that both the drier manures and damper ones 
will be much improved in character, and dan¬ 
ger from loss will be greatly diminished. 
The question often arises where will 
sheep, or hog, or cow manure do the most 
good and the least harm. Fresh sheep, horse 
and pig manures would best be applied to 
grass lands in early fall, and those intended 
for corn, in the following spring. Cow 
manure would best be applied to ground in¬ 
tended for roots, as they love a moist, cool 
soil, while corn thrives best in one that is 
warm and dryish. There is less danger of 
“fingers and toes” and “scab” if cow ma¬ 
nure, instead of horse manure, is used, though 
it is always safest to apply only well rotted 
manure in late fall or early spring, to ground 
intended for roots and tubers. 
Hen manure does not differ materially from 
other manures in quantity per 1,000 pounds 
live weight of animal, if its dryness is consid¬ 
ered and the foods used are of the same char¬ 
acter as those fed to the other animals, or, in 
other words, the animal has no power to 
create plant food. The real value of manure 
is equal to the manural value of the food used, 
minus what the animal has taken out for its 
own use. Corn-fed hens laying eggs produce 
poor manure. The reason why hen manure 
is richer than other kinds is that the animal 
needs and uses large quantities of nitrogenous 
food and small quantities of water. 
The best results may be expected from the 
application of well rotted manure to wheat 
and grass lands in September and October. 
In order to prevent waste and improve the 
chemical and mechanical condition of the 
manure, it should be rotted and preserved in 
a water-tight receptacle with an outlet at the 
lowest point so that the leachings may flow 
into a small cistern. The liquid manure 
should be pumped back upon the heap and a 
little gypsum or earth should,be spread over 
the mass. 
I am pleased to know that you have taken 
this valuable advance step in the discussion 
of manures and that you are trying to teach 
true agriculture, which consists in taking 
from the soil such concentrated elements of 
life as the world wants and replacing them in 
the crude, cheap and waste products so skill¬ 
fully that no serious diminution of fertility 
will occur. 
Ithaca, N. Y. 
FROM W. L. DEVEREAUX. 
To secure the best results by applying each 
sort of manure to the crop for which its 
mechanical condition best tits it, I incline to 
the use of sheep n anure for wheat and 
Timothy meadow and as a surface application. 
In sheep-peus it becomes trodden down into 
very compact layers and is much subject to 
heating and fire-fang, and in that condition 
it is unsuited for the above use, so that it is 
essential that it should be carted out to the 
yard to be dampened and pitched over. It 
will be si ill better, however, if it is piled under 
she’ter, made damp, and gypsum is applied. 
In this way it is made fine enough to be fit for 
spreading properly over a wide reach of sur¬ 
face, and in this form of a top-dressing it will 
be extraordinarily effective even when not 
distributed in a thick coat. I am not familiar 
with the practice of applying sheep manure 
directly to the land from the sheep-hous9 in 
winter and spring; but I know that it will do 
great things for the fertility of the land when¬ 
ever or however it may be applied. 
I regard sheep manure as the best of all farm 
manures, especially if the sheep’s ration con¬ 
sisted largely of clover hay, which makes 
manure twice as valuable as that from sheep 
fed on straw, potatoes , and bran, and very 
much better than that from sheep fed on 
common meadow hay. 
Cow manure mixed with barn-yard manure 
consisting of rotted straw and stalks, is, in 
my practice, used for various crops. I often 
use it plowed in, for wheat, and to some 
extent, it is drawn out to the fields in winter 
for spring crops. 
Horse manure is suited for top-dressing in 
tillage for wheat, and it is valuable, when 
drawn to the land in winter, for bringing up 
poor places to the standard of a field under 
oats, barley or corn, and it is equally valuable 
for doubling the fertility*of land devoted to 
garden crops. It has given me good results 
when put in trenches over potatoes, ashes be¬ 
ing added, and all receiving at once a slight 
covering of soil 
For hoed crops and fertilizing in the hill, 
hog manure is very effective. It is the back¬ 
bone of success with cabbages, melons, 
squashes, etc. 
Having expected much of poultry manuro, 
and, withal, having received small returns, I 
regard it as a puzzler. I have used it in the hill 
than the manure from animals of any one 
kind. i 
As to unmixed manures, that from the 
horse has given me better results in sweet 
potatoes than that which has been nvxed, or 
that from any other animal, while that fiom 
the hog has given the poorest, the latter 
causing a luxuriant growth of vines, but few 
fair tubers. 
For celery I find no manure superior, if 
there is any equal to that from fowls, and 
it does not fail to show good results when ap¬ 
plied to almost any other crop. Were I con¬ 
fined to one kind of manure, that from fowl 
would be my choice. That from sheep I con¬ 
sider next in value. 
NIGHT SOIL AS A FARM MANURE. 
A. HOLLAND. 
“How, when and where collected? How 
stored , preserved or handled? How applied 
to the soil, and in what guantities? What 
crops is it best for? How does it rank in 
value as compared with barn-yard manure?' 1 ' 1 
The above questions I am asked by the 
Rural to answer according to the experience 
I have had in using night soil as a fertilizer. 
collection of night-soil. 
The collection of night-soil in the city of 
Ottawa, Canada, is done by contract, under 
supervision of a health officer appointed by 
the Board of Health. The contractor fur¬ 
nishes men, teams and appliances for the 
work, and his services are paid for by the 
owner or tenant whose privy vault is 
emptied by him. My farm comprising 190 
acres being only 2% miles from the 
city limits, was offered as a dumping-ground, 
the city authorities having found considerable 
difficulty in securing a convenient place for 
this purpose owing to local prejudice against 
the use of sucn a fertilizer. For many years 
BROWNELL'S WINNER POTATO. Frcm Nature. Fig, 33. 
for corn, and in compost as a top-dressing for 
wheat. 1 have also used it in the drill and 
sown it with oats, barley and wheat without 
getting any noticeable returns. I have now 
a section in a field of wheat where it was sown 
by a fertilizer drill opened to its full capacity. 
The hen manure in this trial was mixed with 
well weathered muck, and on a portion ashes 
was also added to the mixture in the drill, 
just as it started up each time, so that it 
might be quickly buried in the soil very soon 
after mixing. There has been no sign of fer¬ 
tility about that section of wheat yet. 
FROM H. M. ENGLE. 
Manure even from the same animal varies 
much according to the food given it, and this 
fact makes the word manure rather indefinite. 
Animals fed rather sparingly on ordinary 
hay or corn-fodder and corn chop, if a large 
quantity of litter is used for absorbents, will 
make a very ordinary n anure, especially if it 
is left exposed to the weather too long; while 
animals which, in addition to good hay and 
corn, are fed full rations of shorts, linseed or 
cotton-seed-meal, or all of these, in proper 
proportions, if there is only a moderate 
quantity of absorbents, will make a manure 
which will be more than twice the value of 
the former, and the two sorts will show dif¬ 
ferent effects on different crops because the 
ingredients in them are differently propor¬ 
tioned. 
The droppings of fowls fed largely on wheat 
and oats will show a better analysis than those 
from birds fed on corn only. The general 
custom among farmers is to mix all the ma¬ 
nures in one heap. The mixture is then more 
nearly a well proportioned complete fertilizer 
the city night-soil had been carted out on the 
ice on the Ottawa River, whence it was car¬ 
ried off by the spring floods, until finally the 
act against the pollution of rivers and streams 
was put in force and the practice w T as 
stopped. 
HOW STORED PRESERVED OR HANDLED. 
The night-soil is now collected in barrels 
made for the purpose with close covers, and is 
sent out to my farm at the rate of about ten 
tons per day. Last winter I made the team¬ 
sters dump their loads as evenly os possible 
on a field of black clay loam, deeply plowed 
in the fall. As the process went on and 14 
acres of ground (across the middle of which a 
small creek runs) became covered with night- 
soil, an outcry was raised by the neighbors 
that it would poison the water supply of the 
city when the spring floods came. In vain did 
1 urge that those piles would be frozen as 
hard as a rock until the flood was over: 1 had 
(to save myself from legal proceedings) to 
cover each load of night-soil with stable 
manure and gas-lime, so that on that piece of 
ground I am unable to say what proportion of 
the neavy crop of corn I raised was due to 
the night-soil and what to the gas-lime and 
stable manure. I may add that my expecta¬ 
tions were realized as to the spring flood; long 
after the snow bad melted and disappeared 
the piles of night-soil were frozen so hard that 
we could not spread them, and under each 
pile was to be found the layer of snow and 
frozen soil on which it was deposited, while 
the surrounding soil was thawed out. The re¬ 
mainder of the 10,000 barrels < f night-soil 
drawn to my fields last winter I composted 
in two large piles with stable manure drawn 
from the city, and gas-lime. As I distributed 
