Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1850-12-04
The Farmer.
Economy and Preservation OF Farm
Yard Manure.

Agricultural Society Of Scotland, Dr. An
d.rsou delivered an important lecture Oh
the ECONOMY of M,uures," from which
~. make the following extract,
beg i, TO be understood as my decided
opinion, that farmyard manure must al
way, be the farmers main stay. Good
f,r,nyard manure will contain more or less
of all the constituents Of o"r crops, out. in
estimating lis value, we must be con'en'ed
N lake in,o consideration only lis more
irnporlau, constituents, and, in this way, |
conceive we may obtain sufficiently near
estimate, bv knowing The amount oil nitro
gen and phosphoric acid which 1t contains
In the mana cement Of iarmyar! manure,
Two different questions reqr:re TO be con.
sidered. First, The production OF a manure
containing the greatest possible amount OF
nitrogen /; and. secondly, the successful
conversion of that nitrogen into ammonia.
II is no, unimportan', oi course, that The
o.ber constituents of the manure should be
presen, in abundance, but il may be as
sumed, as generally true. that The treat
men, likely to produce the greatest amount
Of nitrogen, will be that which produces
the most valuable manure IN o;her re
specrs. la regard 10 the first OF lhese
questions. there is a want OF definite lninr-
nation. Il is common statement, how
ever. ,ha, the value Of the manure Is de-
pendenl mon the nature Of food with WHICH
the cattle lha. produce it are supplied.
That, for instance, cattle fed upon ocake
produce superior manure TO those led on
iurnps. am aware that ihIs opinion Is
no, universal, as have heard ii disputed
bv fnrmers Of skill and experience am
inclined, however, 10 believe that 1t Is 10
certain extent correct. Surprising, then,
tha, two samples of such manure diiier, II
must be obvious that it is the dung and
urine of cattle which differ :; the utter
mixed with such dung will be same in to;h
cases.
As regards the general question OF The
preservation of manure. | apprehend :hat
the most important matter Is lis protection
from air and moisture. ln the way
common dung heap is made, we have, IN
fact, exactly the conditions to occasion loss
of it's valuable constituents. II Is exposed
10 a more or less free current oi AR, which |
facilitates The vola,isstion of The ammonia |
as il is formed and j, is exposed TO the
falling rain, which washes on, the soluble
salts. and wha, ammonia the winds have
xmred, into the subjacen, soil. II is true
thai the former of these sources of loss can
bc 90, the better of by u>e of acids or OF
gypsum, and mixing with dry earth bu'
"a, h., the ammonia is thus fixed, as II Is
paid, il is fixed only as regards rof"'"y'
for il is still soluble, and liable TO be
washed away by rain. l.
In order to have larmvard dung in the
bes, state, ii mus, he pre-. ed under GOV
cr and, my impression is, that the INTRO
duc,ion of covered dung pits Is likely I"
prove Of srea, importance. We have an
=, h.r matter 10 attend 10, also. in the man
aacmcn, OF l,rmvard manure-ils fernen'
Ia,ion, namely. by which is meant The pro-
duc,ior of such decomposition as con
ver,s the nitrogen presen, into ammonia
The importance of this decomposition de-
pend. upon the fac, that, by This means we
ob,,in manure which acts with greater
r,pidi,y than one in which this dccompos'-
ion has no, been effected. The iac' 's'fhat
The formation Of ammonia. takes place
much more slowly, when II has been I'D
corpora,cd with the soil. Than when 1t Is
hcaped I'D in the dung heap; and as ihe
pi,roueu mus, pass into the state oi ammo
nj, Lelorc i, is absorbed by the plant, We
rrouirc 10 eliec, as much OF ihu, change
as possible, if we are TO have manure oi
rapid action.
How much Pork will Bushcl Of Corn
Make BY some experiments tried IT Is
h,I,ev.d ,ha, bushcl of corn, fed TO
thrifty hog. " i'll make ~ lbs. OF pork. )"
Iha, corn ii, ~ CTS. is equal 10 pork at :
els. and corn AT IS cts. a buShel is equal
10 pork a, 6 els. pound. The manure
will more than pay for the labor OF feeding
and killing the hogs.