198 
June 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
of a valuable nature. The price was nearly $40 
per ton, and large quantities were disposed of. 
Great disappointment was experienced in its effects, 
and a sample was analysed by Prof. Way; his re¬ 
sult was as follows: 
Water,. 4.93 
Sand and Clay,. 74.16 
Organic matter,. 4.43 
Phosphate of Lime.. trace. 
Oxide of Iron and Alumina,. 13.88 
Carbonic acid,. trace. 
Sulphuric acid,. none. 
Lime,. 1.05 
Common salt,. 1.62 
100.07 
This, as shown by the analysis, was nothing more 
than a red soil, crumbled down to a tolerably fine 
powder, and was a most unparalelled piece of im¬ 
position. Most of the dealers, when making up 
such manures, add something to them which has a 
most powerful and offensive smell; this causes them 
to take with the farmers at once. They have learn¬ 
ed that guano, animal manures, &c., have such 
smells, and hence conclude that all highly scented 
substances are fertilizers. If the dealer can suc¬ 
ceed in imparting a most intolerable odor to his. 
worthless mixture, he is pretty sure to find a ready 
sale at good prices. A man must not then, in this 
business, follow his nose too implicitly, but must 
call in the aid of other senses also. If a high price 
is to be given for a manure, it should be one of ac¬ 
knowledged character and value. 
As concentrated fertilizers come into more gene¬ 
ral demand in this country, and as their importance 
becomes fully appreciated, dealers will doubtless be 
found, who will attempt impositions of a similar 
character. I perceive already, advertisements of 
various artificial manures ; these may so far as I can 
say, be of good quality, but I would still urge the 
necessity of caution, in all cases where the dealer 
is not known to be honorable, or where he cannot 
give some sufficient guarantee as to the quality of 
the article that he sells. 
In the preceding letters, I have indicated nume¬ 
rous natural manures heretofore in a great degree 
disregarded; some of which may, in almost every 
locality, be obtained without much difficulty or ex¬ 
pense. Many of these are entirely neglected as re¬ 
fuse, and others can be bought for a mere trifle. I 
would then recommend that the farmer, before pay¬ 
ing largely for such manures as guano, and others 
of the same class, look carefully about him and see 
if there are not to be had some such substances as 
I have named, that may bo made available by a lit¬ 
tle exertion and perseverance, in collecting and pre¬ 
serving them. 
There are few neighborhoods where a man who 
is watchful, cannot in the course of a year, collect a 
considerable quantity of these otherwise neglected 
substances. When all of the farmers come to un¬ 
derstand their true value, they will no longer permit 
them to leave their own land, and the supplies will 
of course become limited. Before their importance 
is generally known, those who are in favorable lo¬ 
calities for the collection of such materials, have an 
opportunity of enriching their soils with compara¬ 
tively a very small outlay. 
I have hitherto mentioned, with the exception of 
bones, manures whose worth depended for the most 
part, on their organic portion, and on the nitrogen 
which this contained. There is another important 
class, consisting of manures wholly or chiefly inor¬ 
ganic, some notice of which seems necessary. 
The value of wood ashes, seems now to be quite 
generally recognised; among those who can ever 
pretend to be good farmers, they are no longer neg¬ 
lected. Coal ashes, however, are generally thrown 
away, and in the large cities immense quantities are 
thus wasted. We have as yet, no detailed series of * 
analyses, from which to calculate the actual value 
of these ashes. Some partial investigations made 
in my own laboratory, show that they contain seve¬ 
ral pounds in 100, of soluble substances. These are 
of the same class as those which occur in wood ash¬ 
es. In many places the soap makers will give a 
small price for these ashes, thus showing that they 
are able to extract some alkaline matter from them. 
All this, is of course valuable for the soil. I am in¬ 
tending to pursue the investigation of this subject 
on the first opportunity, and hope to lay before the 
community some important results. 
In the mean time, I have no hesitation in saying, 
that these ashes will pay well for their preservation ; 
and that it would be an object for farmers in the vi¬ 
cinity of cities, to send in their teams for a portion 
of the vast quantities which are annually thrown 
away. 
In the course of a conversation a few days since, 
with a very intelligent gentleman, who has a farm 
near Hartford, Ct., he informed me, that according 
to his experience, coal ashes were worth upon his 
land, from one-third to one-half as much as wood 
ashes. This was reliable practical evidence, and 
was in accordance with the views that I had previ¬ 
ously entertained. John P. Norton. 
Composition of Hog and Cow Manures. 
BY J. H. SALISBURY, ALBANY. 
Per centage of water , dry matter and ash, in 
Hog Manure. 
Cow Manure. 
Per centage of 
water,. 
. 82.30 
77.40 
do 
dry matter, .... 
. 17.70 
22.60 
do 
ash. 
....... 3.64 
3.11 
do 
ash, calculated 
dry matter.... 
on the 
. 20.565 
13.761 
About four-fifths of the weight of these manures 
is water. The hog manure contains about five per 
cent, more water than the cow manure. It will be 
noticed too, that these manures are decidedly rich 
in inorganic matter. A little over one-fifth of the 
dry matter of the hog manure is ash, while the ash 
of the cow manure is less than one-seventli of its 
dry matter. 
Composition of the Ash. 
Hog Manure. 
Cow Manure 
Silicic acid,. 
. 45.525 
51.275 
Carbonic acid,. 
0.145 
Siilnhurie acid.. . ... 
. 4.120 
60.065 
Phosphoric acid and per-oxide of Iron, . 29.295 
13.160 
Lime,. 
Magnesia,. 
. 2.870 
1.690 
. 1 160 
1.730 
Potash. 
. 3.320 
4.150 
Soda,... 
. 10.740 
19 145 
Chlorine. 
. 0.305 
0.370 
Organic Acids,. 
1.825 
99.366 
99.555 
Proximate Organic Analysis. 
Hog 
Manure. Cow Manure. 
With the Without the With the Without the 
water. 
water. water. 
wattr. 
Chlorophyl, fatty matter. 
i 
1.016 
and wax,. 
0.51 
2.252 0.25 
Fibre and other bodies, in¬ 
soluble in water and al¬ 
' 
cohol, . 
15.86 
70.022 15.86 
64.445 
Albumen,. 
3.21 
14.172 5.46 
22.187 
Casein,. 
. 0.26 
1.148 0.1S 
0.731 
Dextrine or gum,... 
. 1.88 
8.300 1.88 
7.639 
Sugar and Extract,.. 
. 0.93 
4.106 0.98 
3.982 
22.65 
100.000 24.61 
100.000 
Water and volatile organic 
products,.. 
, 77.63 
74.95 
100.28 
99.56 
Per centage of ash in fibre, 
16.078 
13:871 
