Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-12-06
MANURES,

The improvement of our system of agri
culture, and the enrichment of our soils i
one of the most important subjects that cal
engage the attention of our people. Here
tofore our farmers have bent nearly all thei
energies to the cultivation of large farms
almost wholly neglecting their improve
ment. Their system seems to have beer
to exhaust one field and then clear another
The result is the vast number of fields which
we see everywhere thrown out of cultiva
ton and washing into gullies. A continu
ance of this system will ruin the best coun
try in the world. Our large farms should
be cut up into small Ones and our farmers
should turn their attention to the making
of manures. In this way in the course o
time, much Of the worn out lands of oul
country may be reclaimed, or at least we
may retain and improve by this means, and
by the aid of immigration, all those now in
cultivation. In this connection we would
recommend to our readers the following
practical suggestions from Prof. Jackson's
Agriculture and Diary of Husbandry:
By repeated cropping, the best soils be-
come exhausted of their fertile properties,
while naturally Indifferent soils require the
administration Of certain qualities, before
they will yield due return to the Iabors
of the husbandman. There are, no doubt,
soils SO naturally rich in some parts of the
world, that though used for twenty or more
years in growing successive grain crops,
they show no indication of impoverish-
ment; yet even these must in time be ex-
hausted, and therefore, in all circumstan-
ces, manures or artificial fertilizers, require
the consideration Of the husbandman. In
our own country they are of the first i'm
pOrtance
Manures are of two classes, both of which
have distinctive characters, and perform
different offices in the economy of vegeta-
ton. The first of these, to which we now
propose to call the readers attention, COM
prehends all animal and vegetable decom-
posing matter and is principally employed
in feeding the plant augmenting its size,
and sustaining the vital energy.
The animal and dvegetablemanures, which
are putressent in their nature, are foremost
in Importance and dignity. They consist
of certain elementary parts of animal and
vegetable substances elaborated by nat
ural chemical process in the course OF the
| decomposition or decay of the bodies. The
eXcrementitiOus matter, OF dung of all ami
mails, is no other than the remains of the
vegetable or animal food which has been
received into the stomach undergone there
a partial dissolution, and been thrown out
as unservicable for the further nutriment of
the system. From this universal decay of
!
fluids and gases, it would seem that animal
and vegetable substances, and excrementi-
tious matter, are resolvable into each 9th
er, and are only different parts of the same
original principles. The essential elements
of them all are hydrogen, carbon and oxy-
gen, either alone, or in some cases united
with nitrogen. Conveyed by liquids or
most substances into the ground, these ele-
ments are sought for as nourishment by the
roots of plants, and SO form the cOnstltu-
ent principles of a new vegetation. lnas-
much as flesh consists of greater concen-
tration of these original elements than veg
etables, the manure produced by carnlvor-
Gus animals (man included) is always more
strong in proportion to its bulk than that
| discharged by animals who live only on
herbage. Experience fully proves that all
animal and vegetable manures are but va
rieties of one kind of principles; their ac-
tual shape and appearance being of much
less consequence than the degree of strength
in which these principles reside in them.
Whatever be the value of the elementary
principles of manures, practically they are
of no use as manure till they are olsen
gagged by putrefaction. Putrefaction or
decomposition is benefcient and neces-
sary principle in nature. If the animal or
vegetable substance do not putrefy or de-
stone. For the sake of illustration, take
piece of peat. 1t is an inert vegetable
mass, composed of successive layers of veg
citation, and preserved from putrefaction
by water, and certain antiseptic qualities
in its substance AS it exists in this pre-
served condition, it is valueless as a ma
nure it can form only an unfermentel and
living dung-hill. But when we remove it
from its native bog, expose it to the atmos-
phere, and artifcially bring on decomposl-
ton, or destruction of the living fibre, its
character is at once changed, and we re-
alize what may possibly be a nutrious ma
nure.
1t may be further observed, that putre-
faction is IN every instance produced ny
the elementary principles being set at lib
erty either in a fluid or volatile state. If a
quantity of stable-dung be piled into a
heap, and freely exposed to all varieties of
weather, it soon heaps and emits stream
of vapor, which is often visible as a cloud
over it. These vapOrS, and also the odors
which it sends forth, are gases escaping,
and the heap is constantly diminishing In
weight and volume; at the end of SIX
months, If there have been alternate moist
ure and warmth, not above q fourth Of the
original essential material remains to be
spread on the field; there may be in ap
is comparatively of little value-the real
manure is gone, and what reluains is little
better than a mass of unputrefed rubbish.
It may be safely averred, that no prlnc1-
pie connected with agriculture is so little
understood or thought Of as that which has
been now mentioned. We therefore crave
the most earnest attention to it by every
reader of these pages. Generally speaking,
the excrementitious matters thrown to the
dung-hill are treated with perfect inditfer
ence as to the effects of exposure and drain
age away in the form of liquids. 1t can
not be too strongly stated that this is q
gross abuse in farming, which cannot be
too speedily remede'. The putrescent
steam contains the very essence # the ma
nure, and should either be scrupulously
confined within the limits of the dung-hill,
or conveyed to fresh vegetable or earthly
matter, that it may impart its nutritive
qualities.
The earth is powerful absorber of all
the gases which arise from putre faction.
whether in solids or liquids. 1t is remark