The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1868-11-24
A u1 tn r al.
Animal Mannres.

Animal Manures are the main-stay of progress
sive Agriculture. BY far too little attention in
paid to their production and use Although the
term animal manure, strictly speaking, is only
such as is formed by the cxcrements of animals
and the decomposition of their bodies by different
methods, it is generally applied to manures pro-
duced by the excrements Of animals, and the ad.
mixture of straw, leaves or any other vegetable
matter, used as litter, and it has received the
nanae of stable or yard manure. The quality
depends much upon the food given to the cattle
and upon the naturasef the litter used. The
richer the food, the richer will be the manure
produced. The great fault with nine-tenths Of
the farmers, is to under-value stable manure, and
to waste it by allowing it to remain exposed, in
small dispersed quantities to the action Of the
sun and rain, thereby allowing It's fertilizing
properties to evaporatc Cattle should be stabbed
or penned in smaller places than is generally
done Wheat and cat straw, oak leaves, hay,
grass or other vegetable matter, should be freely
used for litter. Avoid pine straw or pine saw.
dust pine shavings, all being injurious to any
land, by the resinous principles they contain.
Better burn them and apply their ashes
upon the land. Corn, instead OF being harves.
ted in the manner generally practiced by pulling
of the leaves should be cut off near the ground,
aad the stalks used in making manure. Repeat.
there is less loss by shrinkage in the grain, by
being harvested in the latter mode than by pull.
ing the fodder We have in the cornstalks ono
of the best and most abundant of raw materials
to operate with Manure should be collected
every day or two in as large heaps as possible
the surface made smooth, 30 as to give as little
chance for evaporation us possibe-the outside
covered with earth, or put under cover. The
best method is, to have large quantities Of muck
or leaf mould or good rich earth brought in the
yard, and the manure daily mixed with portion
of it. Every load of fresh manure, mixed with
three four loads of muck under cover, will
cause each load of the mass to become equal to
its bulk Of clear manure, for purposes Of fcrtili-
Zation. This arises from the escaping gases
given off from the manure during fermentation,
being absorbed by the dlvisor. Niyht-soH being
produced from the richest food contains the lar
gest quantity of fertilizng principles 1t can
be used with the best results upon all crops.
Those with delicate nerves it under the
name of poudrettc but this article is easily pro-
duced by using liberal quantities of charcoal dust
anG pypsum-causine it to lose all obnoxious
SMELL by fixing the ammonia.
The excremeuts Of fowls are rich fertilizer
that from pigeons being the strongest. 1t is
equal to hall It's quantity Of guano, if kept under
cover The latter being an animal nature and
when pure, of highly concentrated nature may
be used to advantage on any land; but if i'm
properly applied. it either destroys the crop or
loses its tertiiizing properties.
The purely vegetable manures consist ofyege-
tables ploughed under, in green state. Cow
peas are of the best plants at our commsnd.
Cabbages sown very thickly comes next, but
Clover or Lucern are superior to either. III
Lime is convenient it is advisable to spread from
thirty to fifty bushels of slaked compost lime to
the acre, before ploughing the crop in. This
method, where other manures are not obtainable,
will be found an easy and certain one to ame-
liorate our lands, especially such soils as are do
fcient in vegetable fibre
One max i'm should govern the progress of the
Agriculturist, and that is, that in order to keep
his land in constant state Of fertility, he must
re place in fertziug parts every year as much
as he removes from it in the form of produce;
but ap Increase of fertility can only DO gained
when more is added than is taken away. Tho
great fault with our planters, is to use manure,
when used, upon land not prepared in form to
receive it. Deep ploughing is essential. In
general, all manures containing ammonia should
be ploughed ip-the others, containing salts,
should be used top-dressing. The former
escapes--tte latter penetratcs.