The Portland daily press., 1874-11-02
THE PR ES S.
MONDAY MORNING, NOV. 2, IA,
THE FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
Muck. COmpOsts and Commercial Ma
nureS.

Will the PRESS give recipe for mixing
muck, sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of So
da, bone meal DC, giving the quantity of
each, with the price and manner of mixing,
and any other remarks? l.. Y, Starks.
Reply by =. l.. GoodaIe.
1t is not unusual to see recipes of the sort
above indicated going the rounds of the pa
pers, and whoever tries them will very likely
find some of them prove efficacious and pos
sibly in rare instances he may find them pro-
fitable. But we do not recommend such
mixtures to be made, for the simple reason
that little or no gain would be realized above
that from using the same substances without
previous mixing; and labor is too valuable to
throw away. The farmer should be the last
man to permit any wastes about his premises,
and the demands upon his muscular powers
are so large and so constant that he will do
wisely to avoid all unproductive labor. 'sMix-
ing'' or composing is to to be recommended
when improvement or increase of value can
be fairly counted upon, greater than the worth
of the labor involved in the operation. This
occurs only when new and useful combina-
tions take place. 1t is of great Importance
here to bear in mind the wide difference be-
tween mere mixture and combination.
The first is mingling together by mechani-
cal means, as when you mix sand with sugar.
1t is only sand and sugar still. Gunpowder
is an intimate mixture of sulphur, nitre and
oh Ru tohl oI, .f.
component parts can be separated but,put fire
to it, and its component parts enter into COM
bination. Gunpowder is purposely socomposed
that large amount of gases shall be suddenly
formed and the larger space which these re-
quire gives the explosive force. Neither sui
phur, nitre nor charcoal can be directly re-
covered from these gases-because new and
different substances have been formed with
entirely different properties. Just as real
changes and involving new chemical combina-
tions take place, although much more slowly,
whenever heap of compost is left to ferment,
or fallen log in the woods is left to decay, or
a neglected farm implement is left to rust.
Such is always the case when combination
takes place. When man mixes muck with un-
leached ashes and allows the heap to lie until
the potash from the ashes reacts upon the
vegetable matter, new combinations are
formed and the result is, that plant food
which existed in the muck in locked up in
ert, unavailable condition is liberated aad
rendered active and assimiable by plants.
Now as there is in this operation no loss of
potash, it is evident that the mixing or COM
positive gain-and much more and more
quickly than if the same muck and ashes
had been applied separately to the soil.
Substantially similar improvement would
follow if we compost muck with stable ma
nure and allow the heap to warm up suffi-
ciently to develop ammonia, which acts upon
the inert vegetable matter and renders it
readily assimilable by the plant. Not so is it
if we mix sulpbate Of ammonia with muck,
for here the ammonia (its alkaline constitu-
ent) is already saturated with sulpharic acid
and would not act upon the muck as ammo
mia alone would. 1t remains mixture only.
If nitrate of soda be so mixed it would remain
in mixture, for its soda is already neutralized
by nitric acid, and would not react upon the
muck, as soda in a free state would. These
mixtures would consist of so much sulphate
of ammonia, or nitrate of soda diluted,
mingled or extended with so much muck.
1t might be thus a little easier to sp 1ead a
small amount of these active salts evenly
over large surface, but this advan .age
might hardly pay for the labor.
Both sulphate of ammonia and nitrate of
soda are enegetic manures. They are costly,
too, compared with most other commercial
manures, as all salts containing nitrogen are !;
aud being little in demand except for other
uses in the arts, they are not commonly kept
for sale in agricultural districts. Their prices
are quite variable, sulphate of ammonia in
large quantities ranging from six to nine
cents per h., and nitrate of soda from three
or four to six cents per lb. Bone meal brings
from $40 to $50 per ton according to purity,
fineness &c. Some is sold as pure, but really
far from being so, for $50 or less.
As a general rule sulphate of ammonia is
applied to best advantage directly to the soil,
and near the time when the plant needs it,
and only enough for one seasons use. Nj
trate OF soda should always be used in this
way, for unlike most active manurial SUBJ
stances, the soil has no power at all to COM
bine with it and hold it for future use. 1t is
liable to be washed by rains into the subsoil
and lost. Leachy, gravelly soils can hardly
hold it long enough for a single crop. As a
general rule too, both are used to best advan-
tage for the small grain crops, because plants
with so narrow and scanty leaves, and of so
brief duration from termination to maturity
as these, have smaller facilities and shorter
opportunities to obtain nitrogen for them
selves than do plants with larger foliage and
of longer duration.
To compost muck with bone meal would
be better practice and may be commended,
for if the heap warns up well the animal or
nitrogenous portion of the bone would evolve
its nitrogen in the form of free ammonia
which would act in the crude vegetable mat
ter as free alkali and greatly benefit the
muck, while the earthly or phosphate portion
would become more finely divided and more
easily asslmilated by the plants.
A barrel or two of bone meal may be COM
posted with cord OF muck to decided ad-
vantage.
Labor in composing muck can be used to
no better advantage than by Incorporating
fish chum with it, provided, however, that
the chum be really good. But remember
there is no other manure of So variable quail
ity as porgy chum. By taking it before de-
composition has set in, and sent off more or
less Of its nitrogen, and mixing it well with
thirty to fifty times its weight of muck, and
allowing the heap to become well decom-
posed, we not only securely retain the full
fertilzing efficacy of the fish, but we also
convert the muck into an excellent manure.
Whoever buys fish chum should look well
to its quality. have seen hundreds of tons
the present season which would be cheaper
at $40 per ton than other that have seen
would be at $40 per ton. The latter, how.
ever, would best please those who ignorantly
suppose that the more offensive manure is