Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1880-06-09
History ola Poor Farm. No.
10.
THE VALUE OF LINE IN COMPOsTS

Yes, | intend to fill it up. Let
us see how much 1t will hold 1T
is so feet long by q wide, and |
will fill it six feet deep. That is
1920 cubic feet, equal to 240 loads
of 80 cubic feet each. | intend to
fill it every month during the win
ter, l am spreading nearly a foot
thick of swamp muck from my fish
pond, alternately with a layer Of
manure, and am mixing lime, as
you see, with the swamp muck
Mixing lime in your manure
cellar :, Mr.. Martin calculated.
Certainly why moi what are
you afraid Of 2
You will spoil the manure, that's
ALL remarked my old neighbor.
Il don't know, said Williams; we
have been putting lime on the wheat
fallow, right after we spread the ma
nure, and you have done it ever
since l knew anything or can re-
member, and you never told me
that it would LuIt the manure
But that is different from this,
replied his grandfather there the
lime is put right on the manure,
and that will surely spoil it.
why does it not spoil the ma
nure in the iiol 2 ! asked.
Because it is in the soil the
good Of the manure goes into the
soil, and nothing IS wasted then.
PRECISELY L replied; you are
right, no doubt, aud cannot you see
that l am right, too. Look at the
swamp muck covering the manure
for foot in depth. Is not that
sufficient to Aola everything that
may escape ttom the manure,if any
thing should cscape-which doubt.
Besides. the lime is mixed with
this muck and will not reach the
manure until ii is dissolved and is
carried up and down by the circu-
Iation OF moisture. You see that
hose; we turn dat on to the stable
floor and wash il down occasionally,
and that keeps tie manure below,
quite moist,
The old gentleman shook his
head. Mr.. Martin said, i don't
know how /. Nil ,um out, but |
have read a Aaad.el times that
lime should never be mixed with
manure
But you know it is done, year
in and year out, by good farmers
who know their business, and who
grow good wheat and raise good
crops Of clover, by mauring and
lining their feds at the same time.
Now, l am saving labor and put
ting the lime and manure together
here, in place o. making two jobs of
it in the field
Fred had nice y leycled off the
top Of the hep aAd was coming out
OF the cellar when took from my
pocket-book a strip Of red litmus
paper and as@e~ A.m to test the
heap whole it Was steaming the
most and from which The strongest
smell came.
what IS that asked the old
gentleman.
That is strip Of litmus paper,
which is used to test liquids or va
pors for acids or alkalies. Red lit
mus paper is turned blue by an
alkali, and when blue, is turned red
again by an acid, and it IS so SEN
sitlve that a very small trace Of
ammonia or acid IS detected by it,
Fred went all over the heap and
at last dipped the paper in small
pool of liquid at the bottom of it;
but even there The rcd color did not
change. You see there is no am
monia about this heap of manure,
and the strong smell which now
comes from il, must be something
else .f
The fact is, remarked Dir, Jones,
it is a great mistake to suppose all
that smell that comes from manure
is ammonia, The decomposition of
organic matter gives off much sui
phuretted and carburetted hydrogen
and these are the ioul-smelling gases
which we notice so much. These
gases are acid, and that is the rea-
son why FIed's litmus paper is not
changed by the moisture charged
with them.
1t is only free ammonia that
can escape and waste. and fresh
manure has very little free ammo.
MIA in it, especially when the sta
bles are sprrnkled, as this is, with
plaster every time 1t is cleaned ont
said Fred.
We'll said, Fred replied Or.
Jones. i suppose you could tell
US something about the nitrifcation
of organic matter in such heap as
you have in that cellar
Certainly, if YOU wish; it will
explain a good deal about the ac-
ton Of lime in composts, said Fred,
in former times, when the salt
peter beds Of Chill were not discov-
ered,' said DR.. Jones. and the sup
ply OF saltpeier was small, it was
procured for war purposes for max
ing gunpowdcr, in precisely the
manner in which that heap of ma
5000 =; ,,.I, q l,., -