Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-10-09

would read Understandings, and then
practice what ne would gather from the
experience of your numerous intelligent
correspondents, it would he the best in
vestment he conld possibly make"
Homemade rated NIanures.
From the TuJ, Field aud Farm.
| How deplorable is the improvidence,
or negligence, or ignorance, call it what
you will, of many of our farmers and
planters, who give ruinous prices for con-
centrated manures Of doubtful aIne,
while they are surrounded at horne with
al! the materials for making On their OWN
farms. at half the cost, better article
than they can purchase from the manu-
factures? We would point to many Il
homestead in Maryland and Virginia,
around which the ashes from the dwelling
and quarters have been accommodating for
half a century without being turned 10
account, and yet good farmers at the
North are glad to give ten cents per
bushel for wood ashes aud haul them ten
miles. The wonders wrought by Colonel
Capron fifteen years ago in the improve
ment of the poor lauds around Laurel
factory between Baltimore and Washing
ton, are due to the application Of
wood ashes brought from distance of
twenty miles. How rarely is the carcass
of any domestic animal converted into
manure9 and yet dead horse will make
cord of the best manure, abounding in
nitrogen and fully worth ten dollars. How
often in riding across the country, do we
see the skeletons of. horses and cattle
bleaching in useless decay? And yet
many farmer gives, or complains he
connot give fifty cents bu>hcl for bone
dust, when he could make it himself al
twenty-five, simply by letting The i's.fer,
in his vicinity know that he vii! give -
half cent per pound for old bones. We
remember seeing on the road between
Culpepper Court Housc and WoodviIie 4
huge golgotha accumulated in this way,
and the bones, We We're told, were dis
solved in a weak solution Of sui phuric
acid and mixed with woods ear'h. pro.
ducing home madc concentrated mcnure
superior to the best Perncian gWano and
q! haF tile cost.
The annexed on this subject WAS com.
municated to that able Journal, the SoGtiI-
ern Clltivator by correspondents whose
appreciation of that noble old Roman.
Governor Wise, cannot exceed our own
In January, 1866, | wrote to Col. Nat.
Tyler, of the Richmond Enquirer, re.
spectng the commercial manures to be
had in that locality. He handed my let
ter to Gen. Wise, to whom it made refer
ence in another connection, but who re.
piled to this part Of it in this wise. |
extract from his letter as favor to your
readers:
You can't have the concentrated ma
nures sent to you, rs you proproSe at five
times their value. Mttke ycu omn ma.
nurel a pit two feet deep, eight by
ten square-the bottom made firm and
inclining to one corner; at the lower
corner place q reservoir, sunk below the
corner, to catch the fluid percolating
through composts in pit; in that reservoir
fix hand pump; cover the pit by roof
on posts seven feet high above ground
then in the bottom of the pit lay muck
eight inches thick then cover the muck
with the manure, four inches thick; then
muck again eight inches. and then manure
four inches; and so on until you reach M
four feet high or four and half. and
then top of with muck-muck at top and
bottom. On the top put Il trough or shall
low tray, with holes in the bottom, this
tray, the same size of your compost heap.
say eight feet long. four feet wide, and
four and half feet high-a full cord of
more than one hundred end twenly.c hit
cubic feet. Then dissolve one bush-l Of
salt in just water enough to dissolve it
Pour that brine in the reservoir; then
dissolve three bushels of lime in water
TO make strong milk Of lime Pour
that milk in the brine in the reservoir,
and mix we'll. Then put your cray on the
compost heap, and pump the salt mixture
INTO the tray, and let the mixture perco-
late through the compost. 1t will run
back into the reservoir, and can be re-
pumped, say once every two days. and
in six days you will have cord of ma
nare equal 10 guano."
| shall try this process in the fall season
know personally that Ex. Governor Wise
is one of the best informed and practical
men in America 1t strikes me however.
that the process he describes may be ad
vantageously dispensed with, by making
the compost heaps in the open field, and
mixing the salt and lime mixture with
the muck and manure as the layers are
put into the pens, and leaving them well
covered, to be used on the ground at
planting time. His process is indispen-
sable to making q commercial manure
for transportation.
suggest it is not improbable that the
same end, Of enriching the soil, might be
more advantageously attained by putting
he muck and manure in the open furrow
1t once, pouring the mixture upon it, and
covering it up with turn plow. The
whole subject is suggestive, and may
prompt practical experiments of value.
FALL TOP DREss1Ne.-Every farmer c
sho has practiced fall top dressing, knows
t is invaluable. This does not aris. so 4