A PEIZE ESSAY. 
ss 
quires to be said on this subject, is to remind you, 
reader, of the two divisions of food, the fat formers, 
and the flesh and blood formers. It must be evident, 
that the more of this last the food contains, that is, the 
more nitrogenous is the food, the richer the dung. 
Hence, grains of all sorts, peas, beans, &c., will always 
give a richer dung than fruits, as apples, &c. The 
more nitrogenous the hay, the - richer the dung. 
Meadow cat-tail and rye grass are nearly six times 
stronger in ammonia than oat straw. Red clover is 
twice as rich in nitrogen as herd’s grass; wheat, bar¬ 
ley, and rye straw, green carrots, and potatoes con¬ 
tain only about one third to one fifth the ammonia of 
herd’s grass, and turnips only about one sixth. The 
quantity of ammonia contained in these different 
grasses and straws, shows at once the effect they must 
have in the compost heap. The kind of litter must 
have no small effect upon the value of manure. And 
while we are upon this subject, it may not be out of 
place to mention, that the kind of a green crop, turned 
in, materially affects the value of the process. While 
the straws of the grain-bearing plants afford, for every 
ton of green crop turned in, about three quarters of a 
pound of ammonia, green cornstalks and herd’s grass 
about five pounds of ammonia per ton ; red clover 
affords about seventeen pounds of ammonia per ton.* 
The very great value of clover in enriching land is 
thus made evident. But to return to the quality of 
the dung, as affected by the food, it has been proved, 
that animals fattening on oil-cake give manure in 
value double that of common stock. Here abundance 
of nitrogen is supplied where very little is required, 
and consequently much is voided in dung. The point 
to which we have arrived is a breathing place. The 
remarks which have been offered upon the action of 
* This is the relative, not the absolute, proportion of ammonia 
The analysis of Boussingault gives about fifty, and one hundred 
and seventy as the absolute quantity. 
