The patron of husbandry. (Columbus, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-02-07
HOMEMADE MANUES.

In his "Gardening for the South" the
late VIM. N. White, of Georgia, writes
that anything which, by being added to
the soil promotes plant growth, may be
considered manure Strictly speaking,
manures are the artificial food supplied to
plants. Those substances that, when
added to the soil, promote plant growth
more by changing its texture, correcting
its acidity and SO on, may be classed from
manures in general under the name of
mechanical manures. Splitting nair."
they are really not manures at all, though
we must recognize them as such, because
such is now the prevailing usage.
Of the manures proper there are two
classes, so considered: natural OF home
made manures and concentrated or COM
mercial manures. The latter comes to us
prepared ready for use, therefore we are
not SO deeply interested in it as we are in
the other, which we must collect or pre-
pare for ourselves. And it is something
that ought to interest us, even more than
it does. Every farmer ought to be deeply
concerned with reference to the scoumu-
lation of home made manures, at all times.
He ought to be preparing it-there is no
risk to run in the business. True, home
made manures might not be so profitable
as commercial manures, counting the time
spent in making them, and supposing the
makers to have plenty of profitable work
to do, still they will always be apt to be
found worth what they cost And sup
pose the prevailing hard times do ease up,
making US able to buy commercial fertil-
lzers-no matter, we shall be only the
better off for having plenty of the home
made article to mix with them; if, on the
other hand, times continue hard, render
ing homemade manures our only re-
source, we will, if we have plenty on
hand, still be able to raise something of
crop, at least.
For our part we have strong faith in
homemade manures. Once made, we
would take them in preference to most of
the commercial articles on the market.
They may be little slower to act than
are some of the concentrated preparations,
but we consider the effect better and
more durable when it does make itself
felt The only drawback to an unlimited
use of homemade manurcs is their bulk
and weight, which makes application a
little inconvenient but where one has
plenty of stock, their cost is so very in
significant as to more than fully offset that
drawback.
Some months ago we referred to the
raising of stock and the free use of do
mestic manures as means that had
speedily brought England up from the
standard of our ''old fields to a land of
extraordinary fertility and productiveness.
The English people accomplished the
work by keeping cattle and sheep, and
soiling them on green food and feeding
them on root crops-something which We
of the South have every facility for doing
in the same manner.
We want some system of this kind-in
word we want our people to be more
interested in stock, and consequently to
keep better stock and more of it-keeb it
is the word: not let the stock keep itself
as many of us are doing now That thing
of stock keeping itself is our ruin. We
don't appreciate our stock under such a
state of affairs.
But without any special change in ex-
istlng arrangements, the manufacture of
homemade manures may be brought to
system and made a source of great profit.
A good compost heap, made up of odds
and ends thrown together at odd spells,
little every day, is better worth its cost
than any fragment of the Guano Islands
ever sold in a bag. We only require to
admit the importance of economy in this
respect, not to let the material 90 to
waste. Shelter is indispensable to the
keeping of good manure heaps, and with
this provided, all the waste about us NAV
be turned to good account by composing.
Liquid manures are always as rich or
richer than the solid products, and pro-
vision must be made for securing them.
by absorption. This can only be done by
littering the stables and cow pens and re-
newing the litter as often as it becomes