The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-01-28
The value Of Liquid Manure

liquid manure made by their farm stock. 1t
Is coming up as subject of conversation be-
tween farmers when they meet, and appears
as subject of discussion at the sessions of
the farmers clubs. 1t is an encouraging fact
to note that the attention of the cultiVators
of the soil is being directed to the value and
use of the liquid excrements of the farm
stock. Hitherto, to a large extent, this liquid
has been allowed TO run to waste, and only
the solids have been saved for use on the
land.
The Chinese well understand the import
ance of saving all the urine of animals, and
allow none TO go to waste. The skillful farm
ars of the Netherlands in Europe are none the
less vigilant in preventing any waste of this
substance. In Flanders the fresh urine of
one COW is valued at $40 per annum. S. L.
Dana, author of "Danas Muck Manual
says ''that the quantity of liquid manure
produced by one COW annually, is equal to
fertillzing one and quarter acre of ground,
producing effects as durable as do the solid
excavations. A cord of loan, saturated with
urine is equal to cord of the best rot
ted dung. If the liquid and the solid evacua-
tions, including the litter. are kept separate,
and the liquid is soaked up by the loan, it
has been found that they will manure land in
proportion by bulk of seven liquid 10 six SOL
id, while their actual value is Two to one,
One hundred pounds of cattle urine affords
about eight pounds of the most powerful salts
which have ever been used by farmers"
Again the same authority saws: "Tbe act
ual amount of salts in one hundred pounds Of
human, COW and herse dung, is in round
numbers one per cent, while in the liquids it
averages SIS, being in the COW IA and In
the human 4.24 per cent, and horses, accord
ing to Sprangel.''
Stockhardt found in 1000 pounds of the
fresh excrement of the horse, S pounds of
nitrogen; in the same quantity of urine there
were II pounds of nitrogen, equal to Al
pounds OF ammonia. Bousingault, the dis
tinguished agricultural chemist, states, from
experiment, that a COW annually voids $4,000
pounds of urine. VOLTS tables of the general
average of several chemical analyses of the
composition of urine show that each 1000
pounds of cow urine contains 5.8 pounds
nitrogen and 149 pounds potash. Accept
ing these data, we have in the total amount
OF urine OF cow in one year is 1874 pounds of
nitrogen and 1887 pounds potash. The nit
rogen has commercial value of rs cents per
pound, and the potash cents. At these val
ues the nitrogen is worth $1S.85 and the
potash S15.49, making total of $34.34 as the
value OF the nitrogen and potash in the urine
OF one cow in single year.
These figures, of course, are not absolutely
correct, nor would they apply in every
case. In some Instances they would prove an
over-estimate and in others, quite likely, an
underestimate, yet they will serve our pur-
pose well, in indicating that .here is great
deal OF valuable fertil;zing matter in the liq-
uid manure which is allowed to be nearly all
wasted on many farms. The amount OF nit
rogen and potash contained in the urine of
farm stock, varies with the kind of food given.
Cattle which are fed highly on good hay,
corn, oats, bran and cotton seed meal, have
liquid excretions which are very rich in these
elements, while cattle fed on poor hay and
straw produces excrements far less rich in
such substances.
Enough has been said, it is hoped, to show
the farmers that there is something about the
barn hitherto too often allowed to run to
waste, which has the real money value in it,
and which he will do we'll to make some ex-
ira pains to save.
The means by which this liquid ezcrement
may be saved must be left to each farmer to
determine for himself Those having barn
cellars can let it pass directly into the cellar
and mingle with the solid excrements, using
absorbents to take up any surplus liquid and
composing with muck or loan to
prevent the escape of gases. Those not hay
ing barn cellars, can use dry muck, dry sand,
road dust, loan or something of the kind to
absorb the liquid, and then compost the
whole with solid manure and muck or loam
Some have constructed drains from the tie-up
floor to carry the liquid to tanks where it is
kept covered till decomposed and then appli-
ed to the soil.
1t is hoped that farmers will attentiyely
consider the figures given above as represent
ing the value of the liquid excrements. Ac-
cording to Bousingault's analysis, and the
present market value of potash and nitrogen
the urine of single COW during one year is
worth S34.34. Many of the farmers average
capacity for keeping ten cows per year,
whose liquid excrements would be worth
$S43. 40-asum altogether to large to be vast
ed wholly or in part. Any farmer who al
lows such waste to go on, ought not to COM
plain that farming don't pay under such
management and should be reminded that
The fault is his own. The farmers club and
grangers throughout the state should agtate
this question of the value of liquid manure
and the best methods of saving the same,
until the attention of farmers generally is
thoroughly aroused and the importance of
the matter is fully comprehended. The fut-
ure improvement of Maine farms depends
largely upon the judicious outstanding and
proper application fall the fertilizers pro
duced by the farm stock ,-LeaOiston Journa.