The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1873-01-09
Farm, Garden, and Household.
A Farmers Saving Bank, or, How to
Manage Manure.

There is very decided advantage in fer
mentno manure, providing it is done with
out loss. 1t converts the woody fiber OF
the straw into ulmic and humic acid and
the nitro9enoaS matter into ammonia. In
other words, it decomposes the manure and
renders II soluble or available. Chemistry
and experience agree ON this point. Farm
ers aud gardeners know that we'll -rotted
manure acts more quickly than fresh ma
nure; chemistry tells us why, and also
teaches US that there need be no loss OF
ammonia during the process of fermenta-
ton.
1t is undoubtedly true that there Is often
great loss in keeping manure. rms arises
principally from teaching If the liquid
was rnn on to a meadow or otherwise ap
i,lied to the land there would be little loss.
lint w0en il runs OFF into drains or bitches,
we uuquestionably lose much of the best
plant-food of the manure.
The first thing to be done is to spout all
the barns, buildings, sheds, etc, and carry
oil the water where none Of it can come in
contact with the manure. Some farmers
seem to like a wet barnyard. They think
more manure is made. Ii the object is
merely TO wet AS much straw rs possible,
There is some truth in the idea. But straw
alone makes very poor manure, and letting
straw lie saturated with water is not the
best way to rot it,. We have, moreover,
rarely been on farm where all the straw
could not be used up to advantage in bed
ding the cattle, horses, sheep and pigs
We have in the centre of the barn yard,
a basin, or hole with slopng sides. Into
this basin the old fashioned plan was to
throw the manure, promscuously, any
where, Just as it happened and the result
was that for several weeks months it
would form only hin layer, spread out all
over the bottom of the basin. II was too
thin to fermemt, and had slovenly appear
uuce Our plan now is TO wheel or cart the
manure into one corner of the basin max
iug 4 KIND Of hot bed of il. Make it four
or i've feet high, and as you get more
mannre, increase the length and width of
the heap but always keeping it in a COM
paCt mass. 1t soon begins TO ferment, and
10 yet warm and throw off steam. This
pleuseS the boys, and we, too, like to see it
lermeuting. because we know if the heap is
properly managed there is no loss of am
m0nia, That is an exploded notion. There
iS water in the form of steam or vapor
escaping, mixed with a trace Of volatile
pi]S and carbOnic acid, but these are of no
manuria value.
rhis little termentins heap is the ''nest-
egg" 1t has an attraction for boys. They
~pem to like TO clean out the pig pens and
the COW stable, in order to get manure TO
add to the heap. They have horse and
cart and if they can lind anything that will
make manure it is drawn to the savings
Otr k ana deposited.
Now, is not this better than having Il
heap of horse litter at the stable door, where
it gets so dry and hot as to ''tirefang?" or
better than having another heap or heaps
ou the side of the cow sheds where the
drippngs from the caves wash out much of
the best substance from the manure? or
than having the pigsties rceking with tlth?
pr the sheep yard so foul and damp that
there Is great risk of the foot-rot, and no
possibility of the sheep doing well?
The great point is to get the heap started
Many a rich man dates his wealth from his
FIRST deposit in the Savings Bank. Once
g"t little manure nto the heap and start
the fermentation, and it win keep growing
bigger and bigger. Manure scattered about
the premises is soon frozen solid, and re-
mains in a crude state until Spring. But
'his snug little heap will not only keep
itself warm, but, like yeast, will induce
fermentation in the fresh manure that is
tally added to it. 1t will, as we can state
from actual experience, keep termenting
slowly during the ColdeSt weather in winter.
But it would not commence in such cold
weather, hence the Importance of starting
the heap early. What we gain by this fer
mentaton, we will tell the boys at some
iutnre Lime American Agnculturist.