THE CULTIVATOR 
153 
It is necessary, in producing the fermentation of dung and litter, to. use 
certain precautions by which the inconveniences arising from the usual 
mode may be avoided. 
Instead of heaping up in large masses the collections of the barn-yard 
and stables, and allowing them to rot uncovered, and exposed to the 
changes of weather, they should be placed under a shed, or be at least 
protected from the rain by a roof of straw or heath. Separate layers 
should be formed of each clearing of the stables, cow-house, and sheep- 
pens. These layers should be from a foot and a half to two feet in thick¬ 
ness; and when the heat produced in them by fermentation, rises fn the 
centre to more than 95°, ox when the mass begins to smoke, it should be 
turned, to prevent decomposition from going too far. 
Fermentation should be arrested as soon as the straw contained in the 
heap begins to turn brown, and its texture to be decomposed. To do 
this, the mass may be spread, or carried into the fields, to be immediately 
mixed with the soil; or there may be mixed with it mould, plaster, turf, 
sweepings, &c. 
When the dung is not of the usual consistency, as is the case with that 
of neat cattle during the spring and autumn, it ought to be employed im¬ 
mediately, as I have already stated'; but if it .be impossible to apply it to 
the fields whilst recent, it should be mixed with earths or other dry and 
porous substances, which may serve as manures fox the fields destined to 
receive it. 
Upon nearly all our farms the dung of quadrupeds is exposed to the open 
air, without the protection of a shed, as soon as it is removed from the 
stables; and is thus washed by the rains, which carry off all the salts, 
urine, and soluble juices, and form at the foot of the mass a rivulet of 
blackish fluid, which is either wholly evaporated or lost in the ground. 
In proportion as fermentation advances, - new soluble combinations are 
formed, so that all the nutritive and stimulating principles of the dung 
gradually disappear, fill there remain only some weak portions of the ma¬ 
nure, intermingled with stalks of straw which have lost all their goodness. 
To remedy as much as possible an abuse so injurious to agriculture, it 
is necessary at least to dig a deep ditch to receive all the juices which 
flow from the dunghill, in order that they may be used in the spring upon 
the corn or grass lands; or they may be preserved to water the grass lands 
with, after the first mowing. A large cask, fixed upon a small cart, and 
which can be filled by means of a hand pump, is sufficient for this pur¬ 
pose. Beneath the tap of the cask must be fitted a narrow chest about 
four feet long, with the'bottom pierced with holes, through which the li¬ 
quor may be.scattered. This mode of watering, when used after mow¬ 
ing, produces wonderful effects upon the crop of the following year. 
Before deciding upon the question, whether dung and litter should or 
should not be made to ferment, it is necessary to take into consideration 
the nature of the soil to be manured. If this be compact, cjayey, and 
cold, it is better that fermentation should not have taken place, as two 
effects will be produced by the' application of the manure in an undecom¬ 
posed state. In the first place it will improve the soil by softening and 
dividing it, so as to render it permeable 1 by air and water; and in the next 
place it will, whilst undergoing the successive processes of fermentation 
and decomposition, warm the soil. If, on the contrary, the soil be light, 
porous, calcareous, and warm, the thoroughly fermented manure, or short 
muck, as it is called by farmers, is preferable, because it gives out less 
heat, and instead of opening the earth, already too porous, to the filtra 
tions of water, it moderates the flow of that fluid. Long, experience has 
made these truths known to observing, practical farmers. 
When it is required to apply dung to any particular kind of soil, it is 
necessary that it should be used according to a knowledge of its qualities. 
The dung of animals bearing wool is the warmest; next, that of horses; 
whilst that of cows and oxen contains the least heat of any. 
Soft or fluid animal substances change the most easily; and the pro¬ 
gress of their decomposition is rapid in proportion to the diminution of the 
quantity of earthy salts contained in them. Their decomposition produces 
an abundance of ammonial gas. This circumstance distinguishes them 
from vegetable substances, the decomposition of which gives rise to the 
production of that gas only as far as they contain a small portion of albu¬ 
men. It is particularly to the development of ammonial gas, which, com¬ 
bined with gelatine, passes into plants, that we can attribute the wondei-ful 
effect produced upon vegetation by certain dry animal substances, of which 
we shall speak presently. 
Next to the dung of animals, of which I have just spoken, the urine of 
horned cattle and of horses is the most abundant manure which can be 
used in agriculture; and it is not without regret that I see every day so 
little pains taken to collect it. I have already observed, that in those 
countries where agriculture is conducted with the most.care and skill, all 
the stables are floored, and the bottoms of them gentiy sloping, so as to 
condut all the urine into a reservoir, where the remains of rape seed, flax, 
wild cabbage, human excrements, &c. &c. are.thrown into it to undergo 
fermentation. In the spring, when vegetation begins to be developed, 
this fermented liquor is carried into the fields to water the crops. 
There are few animal substances of which' the nature varies as much 
as that of urine; the quality of food, or the state of health, produces a sen¬ 
sible change in it. The urine of animals i3 more or less abundant and 
active in its qualities, in proportion as their food is juicy or dry. Those 
which live upon dry fodder give less urine than those which are fed upon 
green herbage; but that of the first contains a greater quantity of salts 
than that of the last; and that which is produced directly by drink, con¬ 
tains less animal matter than that which is secreted from the blood by the 
urinary organs. There are different states of individuals, which may ex¬ 
plain satisfactorily the disagreements in the results which have been given, 
by the numerous analysis which have been made of this fluid. 
Mr. Brandt has found the urine of a cow to contain, 
Water.......... 65 
Phosphate of lime,.......... 5 
Muriate-of potash and ammonia, ................... 15 
Sulphate of potash.... 6 
Carbonate of potash and of ammonia,... 4 
Urea, ....... .... 5 
100 
Messrs. Fourcroy and Vauquelin have extracted from that of the horse. 
Carbonate of lime,.. ...... 11 
Carbonate of potash,.. 9 
Benzoate of soda.... 24 
Muriate of potash,.... 9 
Urea, ..... 7 
Water and mucilage,... 940 
1,000 
An analysis of human urine by M. Barzelius afford, 
Water....... 933 
Urea, ..... 30.1 
Uric acid,......... . 1 
Muriate of ammonia, free lactic acid, lactate of ammonia, 
and animal matter... 17.4 
981.5 
The remainder is composed of sulphates, phosphates and muriates. 
It may be seen from these analysis, that there is a wide difference in 
the urine of various animals, but that all contain salts which enter into 
plants, with the water by which they are held in solution; and draw in 
at the same time those animal portions; which, like urea, are easily solu¬ 
ble, and can tie decomposed without difficulty. 
Amongst the principles contained in urine, there are some salts unde- 
composable by the digestive organs of vegetables; such are the phosphate 
of lime, the muriate and the sulphate of potash. These can serve only to 
excite and stimulate the organs; but the urea, the mucilage, the uric acid, 
and other animal matters, must be considered as' eminently nutritive. 
Urine in its recent state, should never be employed as manure; it acts 
with too mUch force, and has a tendency to dry the plants; it should there¬ 
fore be either mixed with water, or allowed to ferment. 
Urine is very useful for moistening all those substances which enter 
into composts; it increases the fertilizing properties of each one of them, 
and facilitates fermentation of those which need to be decomposed before 
yielding their nutritive qualities. 
Urine, when combined with plaster, lime, &c., forms a very active ma¬ 
nure for cold lands. 
Bones and horn scrapings have, at the present time, become in the 
hands of the agriculturist powerful agents in fertilizing the soil. These 
parts of animals are principally composed-of phosphate of lime and gela¬ 
tine. Those bones which are' most usually employed, contain about 
equal quantities of phosphate and gelatine. The bones of the ox yield 
from fifty to fifty-five per cent of gelatine; those of the horse from thirty- 
six to forty; and those of the hog from forty-eight to fifty. 
The bones of young animals contain more gelatine than those of older 
animals, and have a less compact texture. The bones of the feet of the 
elk, the roe-buck, stag, and hare afford, upon analysis, from eighty to 
ninety per cent of-phosphate. 
When bones are to be employed as a manure, they should be ground 
fine, and thrown into a heap to ferment. As soon as this action shall 
have commenced,-so as to give out a penetrating odor, the mass should be 
spread upon the earth, and be afterwards mixed with it; or it may be 
thrown upon the seed, and buried in the ground with it. When seeds 
are sown in furrows, it is a good method to place some of the ground 
bones in the furrows with them. 
In some Countries the fat and a great part of the gelatine are extracted 
from bones, by boiling them in water, before selling them for agricultural 
purposes. But by this operation they are deprived of a great part of their 
fertilizing powers. Upon carefully observing the appearance of a mass of 
bones under fermentation, I found the surface of a part of them to be co¬ 
vered with a thin coating of an unctuous substance, sharp and biting to 
the taste. This appeared to me to be formed by the combination of gela¬ 
tine with ammonia; this last being always developed during the decom¬ 
position of all animal substances. The observations of M. D’Arcet, to 
whom we are indebted fora very valuable work upon gelatine, support 
this opinion. 
