The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1859-04-05 00:00:00

2gricititurt.

DR. VOELCK ER ON LIQUID MANURE.

I have been reading Dr. Voelcker's paper on liquid
manure in the last number of the Society's Journal,
and it seems to Inc the argument is not au clear against
liquid manure as Dr. Vueleker makes it appear.
ii the comparison of the muddy liquid from Tiptree
Hall, if we make I correction for the specific gravity.
which I think ought to he done, we shall find that
&ow ;vinous will contain 39•1 i Ihs of ammonia. In
practice we seldom get guano with • larger proport.
of ammonia than Di per cent. ; at tlds rate, and taking
the price as Dr. Vuelcker does at 13s. per cwt. with 2s,
per cwt. added for carriage and application to the land,
it will require 2.lrt carts, of guano at a cost of CI 128. fid.
to supply the same quantity of ammonia, that is, 2s. tkl.
~,,, re than Dr. V. makes it.

The expense of applying the liquid manure is given
by Dr. V. as from 14d. to 2d. per tun, and the calcula-
tion is made at the rate of 24. Mr. Mechi in his book
" How to Parin Profitably" says (page tt9), that 14. per
ton would pay 71 per cent. interest and all working
charges," and lie even hints (page 153) that it is not
more than id. per ton ; it ir therefore scarcely fair to
calculate from the highest estimate he luau ever given,
but as he puts it (page 102) at lid. to id. let us take the
medium, flit., and we shall find that the cost .1 apply-
ing the $0,00(. gallons will be 325. Gjd. instead of 375. 24.,
showing on the whole calculation a difference of 1 itl. in
favour of liquid manure instead of 7s. 24. against it,
that is, lily calculation reduces the cost of liquid manure
by 7s. 3j4. per acre per MIIIIIIII.
But this comparison with guano is made with a sample
of liquid manure, which stands lowest but one in the
proportion of ammonia among the six maniples analysed.
The liquid from Westonbirt is:XI times as rich in this
important ingredient; but if we take the average of the
six samples, which is 34.997 grains of &moulds in •
gallon of liquid, and correct it by the average specific
gravity, which is 1.0032 on five sample (fur it is not
given for No. 3), we shall find in 50,000 gallons about
270 lbs. of ammonia. It will therefore require 15.2 mi
cwts. guano at a coat of kll ss. 104. to supply as much
animunia IS may be supplied by liquid manure at a cost,
as I have shown, of El 12s. Gld., that is, of the average
value of these blI samples.
While therefore, as Dr. Voelcker says, "It is well to
remember that 50,111Elgallons may not contain more fer-
tilising matter thsn 2cwt. of good Peruvian guano," it is
equally important to remember that if the tanks and
drains are properly arranged it is far more likely to con-
tain as much fertilising matter as 15 -cwt. of the same
guano. Indeed if the liquid can be obtained as concen-
trated as the Westonbirt sample, 50,001) gallons would
be as valuable as upwards of 2 tons of the best guano.
My own opinion is that as most farms are at present
conducted and stocked, the less tanks are used the
better; let the buildings be spouted, and the stock,
whether in yards, boxes, or stalls, properly and care-
fully "bedded." and there will be very little surplus
moisture to require a tank but where a Large head of
stock is kept and straw is economised, especially if
sparred floors are adopted, then there will be plenty of
liquid manure, and by all means take care of it. Whe-
ther it should be used greatly diluted or in • more con-
centrated form is another question, and must, I pre-
sume, be decided chiefly by the facility you possess for
dilution and distribution ; where you have only the old
water cart for the purpose the carriage is no expensive
that mutest will prefer to apply it pretty strong ; but
where steam pumps are employed the evidence seems
pretty uniform in favour of abundant dilution.
It is to be regretted that Dr. Voelcker has rot given
us more full information as to the particular instances in
wLich, as he says, "little benelit results from the appli-
cation of liquid manure to clay toils and fertile (noble
learns," and especially of the case in which his
" remarkably intelligent" friend found the entire waste
of his tank liquid the best mode of disposing of it.—

P.S. Ought not the term, excess of straw, to be
cliatig.l into deficiency of live stock, for clots it nut
sound to muck as if the straw was an inconvenience to
be got rid of if possible, rather than a valuable material
to be turned into manure by the use of cake and cairn
alone, if roots are not sufficiently abundant.