The Elements of Agriculture Part 18

It may be applied to the soil, either as a top-dressing, or otherwise, without fear of loss, as the muck will retain all of the gases which would otherwise evaporate.

The cost and trouble of the foregoing system of composting are trifling compared with its advantages. The quant.i.ty of the manure is much increased, and its quality improved. The health of the animals is secured by the retention of those gases, which, when allowed to escape, render impure the air which they have to breathe.

The cleanliness of the stable and yard is much advanced as the effete matters, which would otherwise litter them, are carefully removed to the compost.

As an instance of the profit of composting, it may be stated that Prof.

Mapes has decomposed ninety-two cords of swamp muck, with four hundred bushels of the lime and salt mixture, and then composted it with eight cords of _fresh_ horse dung, making one hundred cords of manure fully equal to the same amount of stable-manure alone, which has lain one year exposed to the weather. Indeed one cord of muck well decomposed, and containing the chlorine lime and soda of four bushels of the mixture, is of itself equal in value to the same amount of manure which has lain in an open barn-yard during the heat and rain of one season, and is then applied to the land in a _raw_ or undecomposed state.

[In what other manners may muck be used in the preservation of manures?

How may liquid manure be made most useful?]

The foregoing system of composting is the best that has yet been suggested for making use of solid manures. Many other methods may be adopted when circ.u.mstances will not admit of so much attention. It is a common and excellent practice to throw prepared muck into the cellar under the stables, to be mixed and turned over with the manure by swine.

In other cases the manures are kept in the yard, and are covered with a thin layer of muck every morning. The principle which renders these systems beneficial is the absorbent power of charcoal.

LIQUID MANURE.

_Liquid manure_ from animals may, also, be made useful by the a.s.sistance of prepared muck. Where a tank is used in composting, the liquids from the stable may all be employed to supply moisture to the heap; but where any system is adopted, not requiring liquids, the urine may be applied to muck heaps, and then allowed to ferment. Fermentation is necessary in urine as well as in solid dung, before it is very active as a manure.

Urine, as will be recollected, contains nitrogen and forms ammonia on fermentation.

[Describe the manner of digging out the bottoms of stalls.]

It is a very good plan to dig out the bottoms of the stalls in a circular or gutter-like form, three or four feet deep in the middle, cement the ground, or make it nearly water-tight, by a plastering of stiff clay, and fill them up with prepared muck. The appearance of a cross section of the floor thus arranged would be as follows:

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 3.]

The prepared muck in the bottom of the stalls would absorb the urine as soon as voided, while yet warm with the animal heat, and receive heat from the animal's body while lying down at night. This heat will hasten the decomposition of the urea,[AA] and if the muck be renewed twice a month, and that which is removed composted under cover, it will be found a most prolific source of good manure. In Flanders, the liquid manure of a cow is considered worth $10 per year, and it is not less valuable here. As was stated in the early part of this section, the inorganic (or mineral) matter contained in urine, is soluble, and consequently is immediately useful as food for plants.

By referring to the a.n.a.lysis of liquid and solid manure, in section V., their relative value may be seen.

CHAPTER VI.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF ANIMAL EXCREMENT.

The manures of different animals are, of course, of different value, as fertilizers, varying according to the food, the age of the animals, etc.

STABLE MANURE.

By stable manure we mean, usually, that of the horse, and that of horned cattle. The case described in chap. 2 (of this section), was one where the animal was not increasing in any of its parts, but returned, in the form of manure, and otherwise, the equivalent of every thing eaten. This case is one of the most simple kind, and is subject to many modifications.

[Is the manure of full-grown animals of the same quality as that of other animals?

Why does that of the growing animal differ?

Why does not the formation of _fat_ reduce the quality of manure?

What does _milk_ remove from the food?]

The _growing_ animal is increasing in size, and as he derives his increase from his food, he does not return in the form of manure as much as he eats. If his bones are growing, he is taking from his food phosphate of lime and nitrogenous matter; consequently, the manure will be poorer in these ingredients. The same may be said of the formation of the muscles, in relation to nitrogen.

The _fatting_ animal, if full grown, makes manure which is as good as that from animals that are not increasing in size, because the fat is taken from those parts of the food which is obtained by plants from the atmosphere, and from nature, (_i. e._ from the 1st cla.s.s of proximates).

Fat contains no nitrogen, and, consequently, does not lessen the amount of this ingredient in the manure.

_Milch Cows_ turn a part of their food to the formation of milk, and consequently, they produce manure of reduced value.

[How do the solid and liquid manure of the horse and ox compare?

What occasions these differences?]

The solid manure of the horse is better than that of the ox, while the liquid manure of the ox is comparatively better than that of the horse.

The cause of this is that the horse has poorer digestive organs than the ox, and consequently pa.s.ses more of the valuable parts of his food, in an undigested form, as dung, while the ox, from chewing the cud and having more perfect organs, turns more of his food into urine than the horse.

RECAPITULATION.

FULL GROWN animals not } producing milk, and full } make the best manure.

grown animals fattening }

GROWING ANIMALS reduce the value of their manure, taking portions of their food to form their bodies.

MILCH COWS reduce the value of their manure by changing a part of their food into milk.

THE OX makes poor dung and rich urine.

THE HORSE makes rich dung and poor urine.[AB]

NIGHT SOIL.

[What is the most valuable manure accessible to the farmer?

What is the probable value of the night soil yearly lost in the United States?

Of what does the manure of man consist?]

The _best_ manure within the reach of the farmer is _night soil_, or human excrement. There has always been a false delicacy about mentioning this fertilizer, which has caused much waste, and great loss of health, from the impure and offensive odors which it is allowed to send forth to taint the air.

The value of the night soil yearly lost in the United States is, probably, about _fifty millions of dollars_ (50,000,000); an amount nearly equal to the entire expenses of our National Government. Much of the ill health of our people is undoubtedly occasioned by neglecting the proper treatment of night soil.

[Describe this manure as compared with the excrements of other animals.

Does the use of night soil produce disagreeable properties in plants?]