THE MANURE OF OUR FARMS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXVI, Issue 3887, 5 February 1870, Page 7

THE MANURE OF OUR FARMS.

BY JUDGE FRENCH.

Tie a piece ot muslin over a tumoier Jtept filled with water, and put upon the muslin a half-dozen peas so that they will rest on the water, and suspend the tumbler in a sunny window by three or four strings, and the peas will not only vegetate, but will grow a foot or two high and blossom with thrifty sterna and leaves. Probably they will not produce peas, but as to the rest I will bear witness from personal observation. It is common in propagating houses to start plants, as grapes, from single eyes or cuttings of various kinds, by placing them in shallow beds of pure-sand, and with water, heat, and light they /Speedily strike root and send up leaves and stems, and form a plant fit to set iri open ground for ordinary culture. Experiments often repeated have shown that a plant may be raised in a flower-pot from a seed, and receive no nourishment but pure water, and yet shall far exceed in weight all the soil in which it grew. In all these cases the plants receive all they want from the ordinary essentials of plant growth— air, light, heat, moisture. To mature a profitable crop, however, we find practically that something besides air, light, heat, and moisture is essential, and that something is not pura silex, however well silex may answer for the first process of germination. Besides our processes which change the physical character of the soil, as drainage and pulverisation by ploughing and the like, besides what may be called amendments of the soil, as when we mix sand with clay or peat — we must systematically add something which we call manure, or the richest soil will by-and-by be exhausted. It ia not my purpose to advance any new theory ; I wish merely to make clear to the mind what a little reflection might make manifest, to any one. The air and heat, and light and moisture, will usually do their part with no artificial help. And, again, most of our soils contain enough of sand, so that we do not haul on 40 loads, more or less, of compost to each acre, to supply either of these essentials. The want of manure is the limit of our cultivation on most New England farms. We might readily double and quadruple our crops if we had only manure enough. Chemists no doubt tell us correctly what elements make up the matured crop, and the chemist knows better than we how many embarrassments nature interposes to his investigations, how the life principle modifies chemical processes in the soil and exerts influences which he cannot measure. In general we know what we want to add to the soil, by knowing what we take from it, as shown by chemical analysis. I shall not attempt to define what kind of fertilisers we should apply to our land, but I desire rather | to impress upon the farmer the folly, or at least the wastefulness, of much of his labour in applying to his farm what he calls manure. With many farmers quantity seems to be the great object, and their manure heap seems valuable in proportion to size. They haul from the fields the head-lands and the middle furrow, and all they can scrape of ordinary soil, into their barn-cellars to the amount of hundreds of loads annually, and in a few months haul it out again upon the same fields mixed with manure from their cattle. Again, it is quite common to team wet swamp mud a mile or two to be used in compost. Ho far as dry niatei ial is needed to absoib the liquids of the cellar, any dry soil may be useful, and a le isunable amount of sand even may be used as a divisor to render manure hue and convenient of application ; but it is well to remember that soil fiom a Held hauled into the cellar and out again, is not by that process rendeied valuable Peat and swamp-muck contain usually \<iluable elements of fertility ; but wo otten fancy that our teams are loaded with manure, when in fact they are toiling all day to haul water upon farms already too wet. The true value of some of the substances which we are in the habit of using in our compost heaps, is well expressed in a valuable essay by Dr. James Ii. Nichols, published m the Agriculture of Massachusetts tor 18G8. He thus disposes of two of our favourite articles, leaves and peat : — " A bushel of wellpi essed dry leaves, as they fall from the trees in autumn, weighs about four pounds ; by further drying they part with a little more than 30 per cent, of water held m the cells of the leaf structure. A cord of absolutely dry leaves will weigh about 325 pounds, reckoning 100 bushels to the cord. In weight then, a cord represents about one-twelfth of a cord of wet barnyard manure, and if they contained the same amount of fertilising ma- | torictl in the same condition, would be equal in value to that amount of manure. But this is tai from being the fact. The dried leaves I have found to stand relatively to the leached organic matter of maim) e as 1 0 to 30 in ash value, and, when the soluble salts of manure are taken into account, the comparative value is JO to 60, weight for weight. A cord of dry forest leaves, made up of the usual deciduous varieties, maple, beech, oak, &c , has an actual mammal value of not over fifty cenfs, reckoning stable | manure at eight dollars the coid. "Will Jt pay to collect them? Certainly not for the amount of feitilising material they contain. As to litter or absorbents in the stable, leaves have some value, b\it much less than straw, inasmuch as they lack the reedy character of straw, and because they are far more difficult and slowly decomposed. A pound of good, thoroughly formed peat, taken fre&h from the meadow upon my farm, lost of water in drying a little more than 14 ounces. A farmer, drawing from his meadow a cord of peat weighing 4,000 pounds, has upon his wagon 3,500 pounds of water, and but 500 pounds of the dry material he seeks. This, dried and compressed, could be placed in a couple of our largest-sized farm basket?. The amount of ash constituents in the pound of peat after drying was a little less than 10 per cent., so that when we reduce the heavy load of peat which to the eye appears so bulky and valuable, down to its contained inorganic principles, we find the whole amount to be less than 50 pounds. J hope not to be misunderstood in the matter. The ashes are far from being the only manurial part of the peat ; and, as in burning some of the most valuable elements are volatilised and lost, it is not good economy to burn peat for the purpose of securing the ashes. Fresh peat allowed to ferment in contact with lime is changed into new substances capable of nourishing plants, and where it can easily be obtained it pays the farmer well to secure a good supply. I cannot help remarking, however, in this connection, that many of the statements made by our chemists and journal writers regarding the value of muck, or peat, are simply absurd, and are proved erroneous by practical experiment. The great value of peat, after all, lies in its absorbent qualities. The report of the department of Agriculture for May and June gives a paper by Dr. Antisell upon the "Value of Sewage Deposit of the City of "Washington." It seems that a large part of the sewage of the city is discharged into the broad canal on the northern border' of the public grounds west of the Capitol. Dr. Antiaell speaks o' the emana r tions from- the canal as ".potent causes of disease, "and it is stated that "the colour^ and odoiu>;of the mud give vivid and strong -impjtession of fertility." A careful analysis of this mud is given by him, and the result shows that it has no value as manure winch will pay for'Wnsporting'at all. -Froin 1001b. ~ of the mud, -dry enough for .transport, 2olb. of moisture niay be dried. The remaining 751b. he found to contain 7l"251b'. of insoluble savicl and silicates, and 3 "751b. of saline matter. , From one ton he estimates that fertilising materials to the value 1 of 98 cents mpy be obtained, "to obtain which -the farmer would have to haul 1, 3001b. o| ; water, and 8001b. of. useless sandy clay." IW€ alL~ remember, when we were young,;; I «ay^-«feraix&iifiea .to .go,- to meeting alliday,-. how joym^w^hta¥F^e«mlrSiW"f filtfi^< and. sixthly,' followed _ by finally, *&&,:&&# disapp'q^eU 1 yr&~ vfdt&~:i6 Tiear 4kim net in ' .aae^TraiaOTeS of reflections; - Bdfreally ' the sdatJerexL facts |t^&~%p$nic&s*twMfcli*S have drsfp.riogetTse};! seem to ' need some^, kind Bf^rangenieiit'Mgiye thej^ copaistLeney,^P?£'%tfl/cpaufkrae my sermon iivith -hh.4}iwi&&$g moral reflections ':-^lafe- AV thouglpiis % goocteifcizen. of? a commonwealth

prof ounet respect for cold water, it seems to be folly to haul a ton of it many miles for the sake of 2501b, of peat or muck, which is then half sand. 2nd. However essential silex may be to vegetation, yet, since most of our soil contains plenty of it, it is unwise to cart it into our cellars except as an absorbent, or to use upon j>eats and clays. 3rd. We may learn from Dr. Antisell that the sense of smell is a very unsafe test of the value of manures. Two or three dead cats will scent a ton of spurious superphosphate to an in-tolerable-degree, while the pure article is nearly inodorous. His statement also shows our liability to mistake bulk for value, and confirms opinions of scientific men, so often given, that the sewage of cities in the common system of drainage is practically worthless for agricultural purposes, because too bulky to pay freight. 4th. When we consider that 90 per cent, at least of even our farm manure is water and sand, we may see that a very small bulk- comprises all that is really valuable, and that it is not incredible that 5001b. of the right stuff per acre is enough for a crop, and that commercial fertilisers, honestly made and properly inspected and certified, may be profitably used in the productioa of valuable crops. After coasuming the fodder raised on our farms, we must look in that direction for the further supply of manure. — American Country Gentleman.