TALKS ON MANURES A SERIES OF FAMILIAR AND PRACTICAL TALKS BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND THE DEACON, THE DOCTOR, AND OTHER NEIGHBORS, ON THE WHOLE SUBJECT
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o the American Farmer.-- The growth of Wheat Year after Year on the same Land, unmanured, with Farm-yard Manure, and with various Organic and Inorganic Fertilizers.
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immediately active and available. It is unquestionably true, that the same amount of nitrogen in barn-yard manure, will not produce so great an effect as its theoretical value would in
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for twenty-seven years, there has been a great loss of nitrogen. The same remarks apply to this case. No one ever advocates summer-fallowing land every other year, and sowing nothing
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d grass, root, stem, and branch, all are composed or made up of these same dozen elements. If I ask you what bread is made of, you say it is composed of the dozen elements aforesaid. I
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refreshes the plants, and fills the leaves with sap, precisely in the same way. All these fertilizing effects, however, belong to climate. It is inaccurate to associate either mulching
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and on the other. This will give you some good, rich muck, and at the same time drain your swamp. Then cut some _under-drains_ from _y_ towards the higher land at _w_, _v_, and _h_, an
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om the soil. In this way the “condition” of the soil would remain the same. If we sell _less_ than we develop, the condition of the soil will improve. By “condition,” I mean the amoun
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ed at the breweries with the “grains,” and are sold to milkmen at the same price--from 12 to 15 cents per bushel. Where their value is not known, they can, doubtless, be sometimes obta
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enting in an exposed heap for six months, it still contains about the same _percentage_ of water. When kept in the heap until August, the percentage of water is much greater. Of four t
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gen, and 30¾ lbs. of soluble mineral matter. If they buy a ton of the same manure that has been kept under cover until February, they get, nitrogen, 15 lbs.; soluble minerals, 42½ lbs.
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, and the manure becomes rapidly deteriorated in value, whilst at the same time it is diminished in weight. “21. Well-rotten dung is more readily affected by the deteriorating influen
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garden, more than two loads of the straw and corn manure. To get the same amount of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, you have to spend more than twice the labor in cleaning out
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imes, when comparatively dry, we use the refuse sheep bedding for the same purpose. Where the sheep barn is contiguous to the pig-pens, and when the sheep bedding can be thrown at once
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iately available. It makes it more soluble. We ferment manure for the same reason that we decompose bone-dust or mineral phosphates with sulphuric acid, and convert them into superphos
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nd in the manure.” How to keep cows tied up in the barn, and at the same time save all the urine, is one of the most difficult problems I have to deal with in the management of manur
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nd supporting 20 cows, would give us a gross return of $1,204.50. The same farm so improved as to produce 2¼ tons of hay or its equivalent, per acre--fed to 20 cows _capable of eating,
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this, his land has been growing richer and richer. And, in fact, the same is true of Mr. Geddes’ farm. It is richer land to-day than when first plowed, while there is one field that f
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80.4 ” ” ” ” Fresh solid cow-dung contains, according to the same authority, 90 per cent of water. I have frequently seen manure drawn out in the spring, that had not been de
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arch, April, May, and June, than wheat; and, consequently, to get the same amount of food, it is not necessary that the clover should have as much nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, et
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es of wheat, and as much potash as the produce from five acres of the same crop. Clover thus unquestionably removes from the land very much more mineral matter than does wheat; wheat,
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s, containing 61 lbs. of nitrogen; that is, there was very nearly the same quantity of roots and nitrogen in them, as that furnished in the soil from the brow of the hill. “The roots,
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f nitrogen per acre, that is, considerably more than was found in the same section of the soil where the clover was mown twice for hay; showing plainly, that during the ripening of the
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cre, and contained 100 lbs. of nitrogen. A few yards distance, on the same soil, where the clover was bad, the acre of roots contained only 31 lbs. of nitrogen per acre. So far, so go
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ments at Rothamsted on the Growth of Wheat, Year After Year, on the Same Land. Table 1.--Manures And Produce; 1st Season, 1843-4. Manures and Seed (Old Red Lammas) Sown Autumn 1
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f manure again in 1845?” “Precisely that, Deacon,” said I, “and this same plot has received this amount of manure every year since, up to the present time--for these same experiments
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of corn and 789 lbs. of straw, which was the increase obtained by the same amount of ammoniacal salt on 10_a_, as compared with 10_b_. “It will be observed, however, that in the forme
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monia-salts alone on plot 10_a_, gave 19¼ bushels per acre, while the same quantity of ammonia, with superphosphate in addition, gave, on plot 9_b_, 25 bushels per acre. The addition
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--“What have you here?” --“Ammonia,” said I; and at 6_b_ he asked the same question, and I replied “ammonia.” At 7_a_, the same question and the same answer. Standing between 7_b_ and
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that the next year and the year after, the salt _was_ applied at the same time as the other manures. It gave an increase of 94 lbs. of grain and 61 lbs. of straw in 1851, but the foll
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uite 29 bushels per acre, and only weighed 55 lbs. per bushel. On the same plot, the year before, with precisely the same manure, the yield was nearly 37 bushels per acre, and the weig
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e consider that this is the twentieth wheat-crop in succession on the same land, these figures are certainly remarkable. “They are so,” said the Deacon, “and what to me is the most su
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king them together in a bottle, and allowing the soil to subside, the same result was obtained. The action, therefore, was in no way referable to any physical law brought into operatio
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s in the spring assumed a rich, dark green color. I have observed the same effect where coal-ashes were spread on grass-land; and I have thought that the apparent benefit was due large
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shes Experiments on the Growth of Barley, Year After Year, on the Same Land, Without Manure, and With Different Descriptions of Manure, Hoos Field, Rothamsted, England. Tabl
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rs.] Experiments on the Growth of Barley, Year After Year, on the Same Land, Without Manure, and With Different Descriptions of Manure, Hoos Field, Rothamsted, England. Tabl
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traw. “That will do,” said the Deacon, “but I see that in 1857, this same plot, with the same manure, produced 66½ bushels of dressed grain per acre, weighing 53½ lbs. to the bushel,
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nips does not enrich land for grain crops. Turnips were grown on the same land, year after year, for ten years. The land was then plowed and sown to barley for three years. The follow
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them. In 1857, I made the following experiments on potatoes, in the same field on which the preceding experiment was made in 1852. In this case, as before, the land was a two-year-o
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n autumn, has afforded a yield of about 70 bushels per acre, when the same amount applied in spring, gave only 50 bushels. A thin coating of manure applied to winter-wheat at the time
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And such facts and experiments as we have, seem to indicate that the same is also true of Indian corn. It is, at any rate, reasonable to suppose that, as Indian corn belongs to the sa
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Plot 10, with 400 lbs. of unleached wood-ashes per acre, produces the same quantity of _sound corn_, with an extra bushel of ‘nubbins’ per acre, as plot 1, without any manure at all; a
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gave an increase of 14½ tons per acre. And the following year, on the same land, it gave an increase of 13½ tons; and the next year, on the same land, over 9 tons.” “Yes,” said I, “th
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res did any good. Ellwanger & Barry also tried them, and reported the same negative result. This was several years ago, and I do not think any similar experiments have been made since.
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e land_, $1.06. “A ton of the fresh fæces,” said the Deacon, “at the same estimate, would be worth (20 lbs. nitrogen, at 20 cents, $4; 21¾ lbs. phosphoric acid, at 12½ cents, $2.70),
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ticle.” As to whether it is better, when you can buy nitrogen at the same price in nitrate of soda as you can in sulphate of ammonia, to use the one or the other will depend on circum
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crop of wheat. And the experience of farmers everywhere tends in the same direction. England is the greatest turnip-growing country in the world, and you will find that where one farm
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e, this was to be expected, and they had expected it much sooner. The same with wheat; he expected the end would come in a few years, but they had now gone on between 30 and 40 years.
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y giving to it the food necessary to grow good grasses, sowing at the same time a small quantity of the best seeds. I further suggested that a flock of sheep should be allowed to run o
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se in the fall for wheat, on land that has been cropped with oats the same year. The manure put on for potatoes is generally estimated to enrich the land sufficient for it to produce o
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ng for, 35-168 ” the 20th Crop on Same Land, 213 ” Top-dressing for, 270 ”
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value.” “Suppose, Deacon,” said he _quotation marks as in original (same speaker)_ carbonaceous matter and water, of little or no value?” _text has question mark after close quote_
---+--------------------------------------------+-------+---------
No.| Kind And Condition Of Manures. | Wt/Bu | Wt/Load
---+--------------------------------------------+-------+---------
| | lbs. | lbs.
1.|Fresh horse-manure free from straw | 37½ | 1875
2.| ” ” ” ” ” ” pressed | 55 | 2750
3.|Fresh horse-manure, | |
| as used for bedding pigs | 28 | 1400
4.| ” ” ” | |
| ” ” ” ” ” pressed | 46 | 2300
5.|Horse-manure from pig cellar | 50 | 2500
6.| ” ” ” ” ” pressed | 72 | 3600
7.|Pig-manure | 57 | 2850
8.| ” ” pressed | 75 | 3750
9.|Pig-manure and dry earth | 98 | 4900
10.|Sheep-manure from open shed | 42 | 2100
11.| ” ” ” ” ” pressed | 65 | 3250
12.|Sheep-manure from closed shed | 28 | 1400
13.| ” ” ” ” ” pressed | 38 | 1900
14.|Fresh cow-dung, free from straw | 87 | 4350
15.|Hen-manure | 34 | 1700
16.| ” ” pressed | 48 | 2400
---+--------------------------------------------+-------+---------
“In buying manure,” said the Deacon, “it makes quite a difference
whether the load is trod down solid or thrown loosely into the box.
A load of fresh horse-manure, when trod down, weighs half as much again
as when thrown in loose.”
“A load of horse-manure,” said Charley, “after it has been used for
bedding pigs, weighs 3,600 lbs., and only 2,300 lbs. when it is thrown
into the pens, and I suppose a ton of the ‘double-worked’ manure is
fully as valuable as a ton of the fresh horse-manure. If so, 15 ‘loads’
of the pig-pen manure is equal to 24 ‘loads’ of the stable-manure.”
“A ton of fresh horse-manure,” said the Doctor, “contains about 9 lbs.
of nitrogen; a ton of fresh cow-dung about 6 lbs.; a ton of fresh
sheep-dung, 11 lbs., and a ton of fresh pig-manure, 12 lbs. But if the
Deacon and you weighed correctly, a ‘load’ or cord of cow-manure would
contain more nitrogen than a load of pressed horse-manure. The figures
are as follows:
A load of 50 bushels of fresh horse-dung,
pressed and free from straw contains 12.37 lbs. nitrogen.
A load of fresh cow-dung 13.05 ” ”
” ” sheep ” 10.45 ” ”
” ” pig ” 22.50 ” ”
“These figures,” said I, “show how necessary it is to look at this
subject in all its aspects. If I was buying manures _by weight,_ I would
much prefer a ton of sheep-manure, if it had been made under cover, to
any other manure except hen-dung, especially if it contained all the
urine from the sheep. But if buying manure by the load or cord, that
from a covered pig-pen would be preferable to any other.”
LIQUID MANURE ON THE FARM.
I have never had any personal experience in the use of liquid manure to
any crop except grass. At Rothamsted, Mr. Lawes used to draw out the
liquid manure in a water-cart, and distribute it on grass land.
“What we want to know,” said the Deacon, “is whether the liquid from our
barn-yards will pay to draw out. If it will, the proper method of using
it can be left to our ingenuity.”
According to Prof. Wolff, a ton of urine from horses, cows, sheep, and
swine, contains the following amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and
potash, and, for the sake of comparison, I give the composition of
drainage from the barn-yard, and also of fresh dung of the different
animals:
Table Showing the Amount of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash,
in One Ton of the Fresh Dung and Fresh Urine of Different Animals,
and Also of the Drainage of the Barn-Yard.
Nitro(gen).
Phos(phoric) Acid.
Pot(ash).
---------------+----------------------+-----------------------
| 1 Ton Fresh Dung. | 1 Ton Fresh Urine.
---------------+-------+-------+------+-------+-------+-------
|Nitro. |Phos. | Pot. |Nitro. |Phos. | Pot.
| |acid. | | |acid. |
---------------+-------+-------+------+-------+-------+-------
| lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs. | lbs.
Horse | 8.8 | 7.0 | 7.0 | 31.0 | | 30.0
Cow | 5.8 | 3.4 | 2.0 | 11.6 | | 9.8
Sheep | 11.0 | 6.2 | 3.0 | 39.0 | 0.2 | 45.2
Swine | 12.0 | 8.2 | 5.2 | 8.6 | 1.4 | 16.6
Mean | 9.4 | 6.2 | 4.3 | 22.5 | 0.4 | 25.4
Drainage of | | | | | |
barn-yard | | | | 3.0 | 0.2 | 9.8
---------------+-------+-------+------+-------+-------+-------
The drainage from a barn-yard, it will be seen, contains a little more
than half as much nitrogen as cow-dung; and it is probable that the
nitrogen in the liquid is in a much more available condition than that
in the dung. It contains, also, nearly five times as much potash as the
dung. It would seem, therefore, that with proper arrangements for
pumping and distributing, this liquid could be drawn a short distance
with profit.
But whether it will or will not pay to cart away the drainage, it is
obviously to our interest to prevent, as far as possible, any of the
liquid from running to waste.
It is of still greater importance to guard against any loss of urine. It
will be seen that, on the average, a ton of the urine of our domestic
animals contains more than twice as much nitrogen as a ton of the dung.
Where straw, leaves, swamp-muck, or other absorbent materials are not
sufficiently abundant to prevent any loss of urine, means should be used
to drain it into a tank so located that the liquid can either be pumped
back on to the manure when needed, or drawn away to the land.
“I do not see,” said the Deacon, “why horse and sheep-urine should
contain so much more nitrogen and potash than that from the cow and
pig.”
“The figures given by Prof. Wolff,” said I, “are general averages. The
composition of the urine varies greatly. The richer the food in
digestible nitrogenous matter, the more nitrogen will there be in the
dry matter of the urine. And, other things being equal, the less water
the animal drinks, the richer will the urine be in nitrogen. The urine
from a sheep fed solely on turnips would contain little or no more
nitrogen than the urine of a cow fed on turnips. An ox or a dry cow fed
on grass would probably void no more nor no poorer urine than a horse
fed on grass. The urine that Mr. Lawes drew out in a cart on to his
grass-land was made by sheep that had one lb. each of oil-cake per day,
and one lb. of chaffed clover-hay, and all the turnips they would eat.
They voided a large quantity of urine, but as the food was rich in
nitrogen, the urine was doubtless nearly or quite as rich as that
analyzed by Prof. Wolff, though that probably contained less water.”
If I was going to draw out liquid manure, I should be very careful to
spout all the buildings, and keep the animals and manure as much under
cover as possible, and also feed food rich in nitrogen. In such
circumstances, it would doubtless pay to draw the urine full as well as
to draw the solid manure.
NIGHTSOIL AND SEWAGE.
The composition of human excrements, as compared with the mean
composition of the excrements from horses, cows, sheep, and swine, so
far as the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash are concerned, is as
follows:
Table Showing the Amount of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash,
in One Ton of Fresh Human Excrements, and in One Ton of Fresh
Excrements From Horses, Cows, Sheep, and Swine.
Phos(phoric) Acid.
-----------+----------------------------+----------------------------
| Solids | Urine
One ton +---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+---------
(2000 lbs).| | Phos. | | | Phos. |
|Nitrogen.| acid. |Potash. |Nitrogen.| acid. |Potash.
-----------+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+---------
Human |20.0 lbs.|21.8 lbs.|5.0 lbs.|12.0 lbs.|3.7 lbs.| 4.0 lbs.
-----------+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+---------
Mean of | | | | | |
horse, cow,| | | | | |
sheep, and | | | | | |
swine | 9.4 ” | 6.2 ” |4.3 ” |22.5 ” |0.4 ” |25.4 ”
-----------+---------+---------+--------+---------+--------+---------
One ton of fresh fæces contains more than twice as much nitrogen, and
more than three times as much phosphoric acid, as a ton of fresh mixed
animal-dung. The nitrogen, too, is probably in a more available
condition than that in common barnyard-dung; and we should not be far
wrong in estimating 1 ton of fæces equal to 2½ tons of ordinary dung, or
about equal in value to carefully preserved manure from liberally-fed
sheep, swine, and fattening cattle.
“It is an unpleasant job,” said the Deacon, “but it pays well to empty
the vaults at least twice a year.”
“If farmers,” said the Doctor, “would only throw into the vaults from
time to time some dry earth or coal ashes, the contents of the vaults
could be removed without any disagreeable smell.”
“That is so,” said I, “and even where a vault has been shamefully
neglected, and is full of offensive matter, it can be cleaned out
without difficulty and without smell. I have cleaned out a large vault
in an hour. We were drawing manure from the yards with three teams and
piling it in the field. We brought back a load of sand and threw half of
it into the vault, and put the other half on one side, to be used as
required. The sand and fæces were then, with a long-handled shovel,
thrown into the wagon, and drawn to the pile of manure in the field, and
thrown on to the pile, not more than two or three inches thick. The team
brought back a load of sand, and so we continued until the work was
done. Sand or dry earth is cheap, and we used all that was necessary to
prevent the escape of any unpleasant gases, and to keep the material
from adhering to the shovels or the wagon.”
“Human urine,” said the Doctor, “is richer in phosphoric acid, but much
poorer in nitrogen and potash than the urine from horses, cows, sheep,
and swine.”
“Some years ago,” said the Deacon, “Mr. H. E. Hooker, of Rochester, used
to draw considerable quantities of urine from the city to his farm. It
would pay better to draw out the urine from farm animals.”
“The figures given above,” said I, “showing the composition of human
excrements, are from Prof. Wolff, and probably are generally correct.
But, of course, the composition of the excrements would vary greatly,
according to the food.”
It has been ascertained by Lawes and Gilbert that the amount of matter
voided by an adult male in the course of a year is--fæces, 95 lbs.;
urine, 1,049 lbs.; total liquid and solid excrements in the pure state,
1,144 lbs. These contain:
Dry substance--fæces, 23¾ lbs.; urine, 34½; total, 58¼ lbs.
Mineral matter--fæces, 2½ lbs.; urine, 12; total, 14½ lbs.
Carbon--fæces, 10 lbs.; urine, 12; total 22 lbs.
Nitrogen--fæces, 1.2 lbs.; urine, 10.8; total, 12 lbs.
Phosphoric acid--fæces, 0.7 lbs.; urine, 1.93; total, 2.63 lbs.
Potash--fæces, 0.24 lbs.; urine, 2.01; total, 2.25 lbs.
The amount of potash is given by Prof. E. Wolff, not by Lawes and
Gilbert.
The mixed solid and liquid excrements, in the condition they leave the
body, contain about 95 per cent of water. It would require, therefore,
20 tons of fresh mixed excrements, to make one ton of _dry_ nightsoil,
or the entire amount voided by a mixed family of 43 persons in a year.
One hundred lbs. of fresh fæces contain 75 lbs. of water, and 25 lbs. of
dry substance.
One hundred lbs. of fresh urine contain 96½ lbs. of water, and 3½ lbs.
of dry substance.
One hundred lbs. of the dry substance of the fæces contain 5 lbs. of
nitrogen, and 5½ lbs. of phosphates.
One hundred lbs. of the dry substance of the urine contain 27 lbs. of
nitrogen, and 10¾ lbs. of phosphates.
These figures are from Lawes and Gilbert, and may be taken as
representing the composition of excrements from moderately well-fed
persons.
According to Wolff, a ton of fresh human urine contains 12 lbs. of
nitrogen. According to Lawes and Gilbert, 18 lbs.
The liquid carted from the city by Mr. Hooker was from well-fed adult
males, and would doubtless be fully equal to the figures given by Lawes
and Gilbert. If we call the nitrogen worth 20 cents a lb., and the
phosphoric acid (soluble) worth 12½ cents, a ton of such urine would be
worth, _on the land_, $1.06.
“A ton of the fresh fæces,” said the Deacon, “at the same estimate,
would be worth (20 lbs. nitrogen, at 20 cents, $4; 21¾ lbs. phosphoric
acid, at 12½ cents, $2.70), $6.70.”
“Not by a good deal,” said the Doctor. “The nitrogen and phosphoric acid
in the urine are both soluble, and would be immediately available. But
the nitrogen and phosphoric acid in the fæces would be mostly insoluble.
We cannot estimate the nitrogen in the fæces at over 15 cents a lb., and
the phosphoric acid at 5 cents. This would make the value of a ton of
fresh fæces, _on the land_, $4.09.”
“This makes the ton of fæces worth about the same as a ton of urine. But
I would like to know,” said the Deacon, “if you really believe we could
afford to pay $4 per ton for the stuff delivered on the farm?”
“If we could get the genuine article,” said the Doctor, “it would be
worth $4 a ton. But, as a rule, it is mixed with water, and dirt, and
stones, and bricks, and rubbish of all kinds. Still, it is
unquestionably a valuable fertilizer.”
“In the dry-earth closets,” said I, “such a large quantity of earth has
to be used to absorb the liquid, that the material, even if used several
times, is not worth carting any considerable distance. Dr. Gilbert found
that 5 tons of absolutely dry earth, before using, contained 16.7 lbs.
of nitrogen.
After being used _once_, 5 tons of the dry earth contained 24.0 lbs.
” ” ” twice, ” ” ” ” ” 36.3 ”
” ” ” three times, ” ” ” ” ” 44.6 ”
” ” ” four times, ” ” ” ” ” 54.0 ”
” ” ” five times, ” ” ” ” ” 61.4 ”
” ” ” six times, ” ” ” ” ” 71.6 ”
Dr. Vœlcker found that five tons of dry earth gained about 7 lbs. of
nitrogen, and 11 lbs. of phosphoric acid, each time it was used in the
closets. If we consider each lb. of nitrogen with the phosphoric acid
worth 20 cents a lb., 5 tons of the dry earth, after being used once,
would be worth $1.46, or less than 30 cents a ton, and after it had been
used six times, five tons of the material would be worth $11.98, or
about $2.40 per ton.
In this calculation I have not reckoned in the value of the nitrogen the
soil contained before using. Soil, on a farm, is cheap.
It is clear from these facts that any earth-closet manure a farmer would
be likely to purchase in the city has not a very high value. It is
absurd to talk of making “guano” or any concentrated fertilizer out of
the material from earth-closets.
“It is rather a reflection on our science and practical skill,” said the
Doctor, “but it looks at present as though the only plan to adopt in
large cities is to use enormous quantities of water and wash the stuff
into the rivers and oceans for the use of aquatic plants and fishes. The
nitrogen is not all lost. Some of it comes back to us in rains and dews.
Of course, there are places where the sewage of our cities and villages
can be used for irrigating purposes. But when water is used as freely as
it ought to be used for health, the sewage is so extremely poor in
fertilizing matter, that it must be used in enormous quantities, to
furnish a dressing equal to an application of 20 tons of stable-manure
per acre.”
“If,” continued the Doctor, “the sewage is used merely as _water_ for
irrigating purposes, that is another question. The water itself may
often be of great benefit. This aspect of the question has not received
the attention it merits.”
PERUVIAN GUANO.
Guano is the manure of birds that live principally on fish.
Fish contain a high percentage of nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and
consequently when fish are digested and the carbon is burnt out of them,
the manure that is left contains a still higher percentage of nitrogen
and phosphoric acid than the fish from which it was derived.
Guano is digested fish. If the guano, or the manure from the birds
living on fish, has been preserved without loss, it would contain not
only a far higher percentage of nitrogen, but the nitrogen would be in a
much more available condition, and consequently be more valuable than
the fish from which the guano is made.
The difference in the value of guano is largely due to a difference in
the climate and locality in which it is deposited by the birds. In a
rainless and hot climate, where the bird-droppings would dry rapidly,
little or no putrefaction or fermentation would take place, and there
would be no loss of nitrogen from the formation and escape of ammonia.
In a damper climate, or where there was more or less rain, the
bird-droppings would putrefy, and the ammonia would be liable to
evaporate, or to be leached out by the rain.
Thirty years ago I saw a quantity of Peruvian guano that contained more
than 18 per cent of nitrogen. It was remarkably light colored. You know
that the white part of hen-droppings consists principally of uric acid,
which contains about 33 per cent of nitrogen.
For many years it was not difficult to find guano containing 13 per cent
of nitrogen, and genuine Peruvian guano was the cheapest and best source
of available nitrogen. But latterly, not only has the price been
advanced, but the quality of the guano has deteriorated. It has
contained less nitrogen and more phosphoric acid. See the Chapter on
“Value of Fertilizers,” Page 324.
SALTS OF AMMONIA AND NITRATE OF SODA.
“I wish,” said the Deacon, “you would tell us something about the
‘ammonia-salts’ and nitrate of soda so long used in Lawes and Gilbert’s
experiments. I have never seen any of them.”
“You could not invest a little money to better advantage than to send
for a few bags of sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of soda. You would
then see what they are, and would learn more by using them, than I can
tell you in a month. You use them just as you would common salt. As a
rule, the better plan is to sow them broadcast, and it is important to
distribute them evenly. In sowing common salt, if you drop a handful in
a place, it will kill the plants. And so it is with nitrate of soda or
sulphate of ammonia. Two or three pounds on a square rod will do good,
but if you put half of it on a square yard, it will burn up the crop,
and the other half will be applied in such a small quantity that you
will see but little effect, and will conclude that it is a humbug.
Judging from over thirty years’ experience, I am safe in saying that not
one man in ten can be trusted to sow these manures. They should be sown
with as much care as you sow grass or clover-seed.”
“The best plan,” said the Doctor, “is to mix them with sifted
coal-ashes, or with gypsum, or sifted earth.”
“Perhaps so,” said I, “though there is nothing gained by mixing earth or
ashes with them, except in securing a more even distribution. And if I
was going to sow them myself, I would much prefer sowing them unmixed.
Any man who can sow wheat or barley can sow sulphate of ammonia or
SOURCES & PROVENANCE
1 listed
This page is an AI-organised index. The label means the grouping and cross-links were compiled with AI; the information itself comes from the public-domain books, reports and manuals listed below. Open any source to read the local copy or follow the link to the original publication.
PUBLIC-DOMAIN BOOK
Talks on Manures A Series of Familiar and Practical Talks Between the Author and the Deacon, the Doctor, and Other Neighbors, on the Whole Subject
primary
Full text in the local archive
Bibliographic record from the archive catalogue.