Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1859-02-18
AQritnlntrul.
Attend to the Manure Heap.

Attend to the Manure Heap.
TAKE care of the manure and the crops
will take care of themselves, is as true
and as well worthy of being iterated and
as Poor Richards familiar
proverb, Take care of the pennies and
the pounds will take care of themselves.
More manure and better, should be the
watchword of every farmer.
There is a very general impression, that
passing food through the body of animals
increases its value as manure. Now, if
we are to understand by this that it adds
something to it that it did not possess
before, it is a mistake. A given weight
of the liquid and solid excrements is
worth more as manure tnan the same
weight Of the food, an equal degrees of
dryness, consumed by the animals from
which they are derived. But il must be
remembered that one hundred pounds of
dry food eaten by an animal furnishes
only forty pounds of dry matter in ths
liquid and solid excrements. In other
words, there is a loss in feeding, of sixty
per cent. This loss consists principally
Of carbon-an element of little value as
manure. This forty pounds of dry matter
is worth az much for manure, or nearly
so there being little loss of nitrogen,
phosphates, &c., as the one hundred
pounds of dry food; and of course one
hundred pounds of such manure would
be worth much more than one hundred
pounds of the food from which it was
derived. 1t is this fact that has led to
the impression that feeding food to ami
mails increases its value as manure. The
liquid and solid excrements of animals
living on clover, for instance, would be
more appropriate food of wheat and
other cereals that the clover itself; and
if carefully preserved, would furnish very
nearly as great an amount of those ele-
ments most required by the wheat.
1t epn not be too often repeated that
the value Of the manure depends, primar-
ily, oa the composition Of the food eaten
by the animals. "lou can not m Ike a
whistle ont Of a pls's tail, neither can
you make good manure out OF an old
straw stack. You may rot It down, or
feed it to animals but it is straw still. =
"D 1t cannot You make it valuable by mix
in5'theF IN IA 'FeS VITA II teftaln'y
II you osr IL ioF anSoFoin5 'le Hql'Ia oil
animals living on b,tter fool, YOU make
the heap Of manure more valuable. ard
the practice is a good, one, and much to
DC e'mmendea' but the S'ra" Is straw
slut u YOU nave '"'s' o' l'ot''''s'' '"i ~
Foti NIX with 'Hc"i " q'"n''ty oi So'a
19'i'fs' YOU 'h9Se t4e parse mo N"'Ha-
o''' oul IN : ''t Uo''ai' uo iot ""' ~
tue intrinsic Na'"e ot1 'i'e pennies II
ma DC Hhotc eoaNeH!eht 10 carry III" III
III 'Na! 'o5 '9'ef' o"' II tHe 3oIo uoIlafs
N''s IA o''s !''eNS5 an '.'9 l''.'''is' IA
'no'aef' you "ou'd nave Just as lnuch
'i'"e! %s 'nou5H YOU ht" 'he''i an III
o"1 ,oeNet' 90 II may - HI ore coh'e"'
'en' 70 NIX inc Soou manure VITA 'ne
poor me ''tl'f may ABSORB an i retain
'Ho?e substances "al9l "o"li o'"ef"'sc
uF"lh away OF ny on, o0t thc mixture
contains no more llf'','@'h9 e'e"ch'S' anu
wouii DC no more Falu'o'e a9 manure
! Ihla Il 'ne : 'or anu tne poor '"anarg
IA" o2en caFet1',F preserves ana apP''9a
F's'! ~ rHIeSS tilo substances from
W4IcA tl'o m'AuFes are acfs'eu contain
the necessary elements, 1t Is vain to eX-
pect to make valuable manure from
them by any known process OF feeding or
fermentation.
The manure from poultry is more val
liable than tat from hogs, while the
latter IS generally more valuable than
that from horses or from cattle and sheep;
AMI many persons se9m to think that
different animals have different powers
which, IN some mysterious way, affect
the quality OF the manure. This is not
the case-at least to any apprcclable
extent. The dropplngs Of poultry are
the most valuable from the fact that fowls
live on richer food, and the liquids and
solids are voided together. Soot hogs and
other animals. Il the food We're the same,
there woulI be little II any difference
in the value OF the manure. One hund-
red pounds hay, eaten by horse, an
OK, or a sheep, would furnish manure,
perhaps in quantity, but of pre-
cisely the same absolute value. To
have good manure, then, we must feed
the animals on food containinga sufficient
amoant OF lertthzins ingredients. We
are ANXIOUS, at the RISK OF being tedious,
n linnrnSs tins fppt hp minds pt on