Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-01-17
farnnr's department,
AGRICULTURAL INTELLIGENCE.

ATSISOhIOf - fAh LIN lNIhiil15NSG'
THE VALUE OF MANIFESTATION an ad-
dress by Hon. Augustus Drum, delivered be-
fore the Indiana Agricultural Society:
ANIMAL MANURE Although the nature
and efficiency of mineral and vegetable man
ures ought to be at this day partially at least,
known to most OF cur farmers, it is rare case
that you see other descriptions used than the
ordinary animal manure, and that, too, applied
with little more regard to the object to be OBJ
tanned than it was half century ago. The
manure pile lies throughout the whole year by
the side of their barn, exposed to every change
of weather, rceking out its precious fertilizing
properties, with no aid to assist its dccompos-
ition, and no attempt to fix or retain in it the
powerful volatile essence which gives it value
it is then hurried away to the fields, and
spread upon the top Of the ground, where it
is allowed to lie until the little good it still
possesses as fertilizer has left it before it is
mixed with the soil, and expected to operate
like charm upon the next harvest. I take it
upon me to say that it has little more effect
than to deposit so much barren straw-and
and that it is a mockery of the gladstone earth
that 50 tcndcrly feeds her children.
Every body knows the value of manures to
land, and is it not so necessary that they
should know how and why they are valuable,
as they should be informed and what substan-
ccs constitute efficient fertilizers and how they
should be applied. The very general use of
animal manure, in form at least, proves how
extensively beneficial it might become if ap-
piled with proper regard to the qualities it
contains. Its essential fertilzing principle is
gas termed, ammonia, combined, during de-
composition, from the nitrogen of the air and
the hydrogen of the water, and it is precisely
the same clement which we undertake to man.
ufacture when We plough down clover, and rot
it for the purpose of manure, which unhapily
is too seldom done. This active principle is
also exceedingly volatile, and it will readily be
seen that the substance that contained it pos
scsscs no longer single quality of fertility.
With every pound Of it that cvaporatcs, it
is said, bushel of wheat is lost, and this is
the reason why the ordinary method of ma
king and using manure in this country is of so
little value compared with what it might be-
come For, in the first place, before the am
monia is engcndercd at all, the substance must
have passed through its regular process of de-
composition and fermentation. The clover of
the manure pile must have perfectly rotted.-
This process, it is true, will take time, but it
may be greatly hastcncd by tie use of other
caustic substances, Of which believe quick
lime is one, with ittletrouble and with scarce
ly any expense. Now, how seldom is this
trouble taken or this expense incurred.
SHELTER FOR THE MANURE HEAp.-But
after the ammonia is at once present and fair
ly transfused through the heap, it is of course
vitality important that it should be kept there
until the manure is put under the ground. 10
secure this I have already mentioned how ne
cessary it is that the pile should be carefully
sheltered from the summers sun and the win
tcr's rain. But, in addition to this precaution,
chemistry has furnished us with another and
cheap cxpcdient in the oil of vitriol or sui
phuric acid, which, when diluted with water
an occasionally spriukled on the heap, enables
it to retain its valuable essence, and thus i'm
parts the quality so highly beneficial. How
much of these things are done by us in the
preparation of our most familiar manure?
But even in the article of stable manures
our economy is mere wastefulness when COM
pared with what it ought to be, and with agri-
cultural economy as is practised in other coun-
tries. 1t may be fairly estimated that one
half of the amount of the refuse of the barn
or stable, and that by far the most valuable
part of it, the liquid manure, is allowed by
sheer carelessness to be lost. The application