Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-10-08
Rich Manures,

MANY OF the most valuable materials
for enriching land are now lost to agri-
culture, which, as population shall be-
come more dense by and by, we shall
look after with more care. Bymany care
fully-tried experiments it is shown that
the best barnyard manure, as well as clo-
yer or any green crop turned under for
enriching the land, is greatly improved
in crop-producing power by the addition
of some concentrated fertilizer, such as
plaster, ashes, nightsoil, loan saturated
with urine from the chambers, phosphate
of lime, hen manure, compOsted with
plaster and earth, guano and nitrates of
soda and potash Some Of these ingredi-
ents or materials may be too expensive for
general use among Western farmers, and
yet we have little doubt that ii would be
| advantageous to use them with some crops,
even at the high commercial rates at
which they are sold. But we need not go
abroad for what we may term rich season.
ing for the gross fertilizers of the barn
yards, stables and the clover fields. We
have them upon every farm and near at
hand. Plaster is convenient and cheap.
1t should be used in the stables daily
through winter, and upon the manure ac-
cumulations through the summer 1t is
prime element in all valuable composts,
nOie Ndluaoie even tndn III tne manner
II is commonly used. We are very sure
that farmers would find it greatly to
their profit to keep barrel of
it in the stables during winter
and commingle it freely with the
droppings Of the animals and over
the floors of the stables. Another material
to be had on every farm and which is gen.
orally as good as wasted is the droppings
of fowls. In these we have the solid and
liquid elements mixed together, making
them exceedingly rich in nitrogen. The
amount of this kind of manure to be had
on each farm may appear small and of
little consequence or value, but it must be
remembered that its value, like that of
guano, is not measured by its bulk, or by
the load, but is estimated by the pound
Prof. Norton estimated that three or four
hundred pounds of hen manure, which has
been kept dry, is worth at least from four
teen to eighteen loads of ordinary manure.
Two hundred pounds of hen manure com.
posted and thoroughly divided with twice
the quantity of dry earth or peat per acre
increases the crop one-quarter to one-third
ON each acre. 1t is very powerful in its
action, and should never be applied raw,
or alone. The droppings Of fowls are
scarcely fit to be used the first year unless
repeatedly turned or shoveled over on
floor or some other convenient place. The
guano deposits of the sea-islands which
consist chiefly of the eXcrements of birds,
in climates where rain is seldom known,
have been accumulated for centuries upon
centuries, and have become completely
dissolved, so that in handling they crumble
into powder.
Common salt, in moderate quantities, is
valuable auxiliary to the manure from
the stables. If applied as the sea-breezes
apply the salt vapor of the ocean to the
adjacent soils it is highly beneficial.
When used it is sOwn broadcast, like
plaster, at the rate of fifty to 100 pounds
to the acre. Salt is said to cause wheat to
ripen earlier, to give strength and bright
ness to the straw and plumpness to the
berry. 1t is to be used with caution, and
should be sown over the growing grain
very early in the spring. Another min
eral agent which is coming into use good
deal in foreign countries, and which many
Eastern farmers in our own country are
using considerably, is nitrate of soda.
Some experiments made with this in Scot
land show results at once remarkable and
valuable. A meadow ON which was sown
l cwt. per acre produced tons, cwt. A
portion not dressed with the nitrate pro-
duced only 2 tons, 1.2 cwt. Applied TO
oats, mixed with nitrate of potash, il pro-
duced "a bushels; the same kind of soil
without the nitrate produced only 49,
bushels. On wheat the nitrate of soda
alone produced "a bushels; without the
nitrates, 40 bushels.
Perhaps 1t would not be wisdom to buy
these fertilizers now for general farm pur-
poses, and yet TO look at these expert
ments one would say the profits would
warrant their use. 1t is only by trial on
our own soil, however, that the nice ques
tions Of profit and loss can be determined
with certainty. Experiments costing but
little might be easily tried by individuals; +;
or, what would be better, carried on under
the auspices and direction of the execu-
tive committees of county agricultural So
cieties, at the common expense and for
the common benefit. A little labor and
money expended in this way would prove
highly advantageous to the country.
Wood ashes make one of the most valu-
able of manures, and yet more than half
of those made on farms are lying In heaps
about, unsightly objects and useless.
They contain potash, soda, lime, gypsum,
magnesia, phosphoric acid, silica, etc, in
large percentages. All of these elements
are required for the growth of cultivated
crops SOwn broadcast ON grass lands
they often produce results equal to those
nroducad NV nlagfar Rlit tlev ara vaIua