The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1884-06-20
The Greatest Waste of the Farm.

The greatest waste of the farm con-
sists in the unnecessary loss of manure,
and chiefly the liquid portion of it. OF
five to ninety-six per cent. of the nitro
genotis part of it is elected as waste in
the excrement, only about four per
cent. being utilized in repairing the
waste of the system; and about seventy
three to seyenty-nine per cent out of
this ninety-five or ninety-six per cent.
exists in the urine. And yet on very
large proportion of farms probably
ninety out of every hundred--no pro-
vision at all is made for saving this
liquid manure. To save and utilize it is
quite easy. There is no necessity for
tanks and pumps and barrel-carts for
spreading it upon fields; a very simple
provision for gathering it where it may
be absorbed by fine dry litter is all that.
is needed. There is even no necessity
for q manure cellar, although this is q,
great convenience. A tight gutter, a
drain, and cemented waterproof basin
ia the yard, protected from the wash from
the roofs, are all that are required,
and in this basin the finer dry mat
ter may be made to absorb all the
liquid portion. There was once a mau
named BONNER, who has been called
crank, because he made q hobby of this
very matter of saving the valuable
liquid manure, but who was wiser than
many who cast aspersions upon his
good sense. He reduced his theory to
a method or system, and published
valuable little pamphlet descriptive of
it. 1t is remarkably simple and ex-
'ceedingly valuable, and perfectly prac-
ticable. He made pit at the center
of sloping basin of suitable size,
made it watertight, placed some logs
across the pit and covered these with
rails. Upon the rails he placed the
manure mixed with everything useful
for manure that could be raked and
scraped together; sods, leaf-mold,
weeds, (without their seeds) swamp
muck, etc. A simple wooden pump
was fitted into the pit at the side of the
heap and the liquid brought from the
STABLES and pens in drains to the pit
twas pumped up and spread over the
heap until it was saturated, and this
was repeated as might be necessary to
dispose of the liquid, or keep the solid
matter in q good condition and moist
enough to heat and decompose rapidly.
Every farmer can see the value of this
method which is known as BONNER s
method and deserves to be rescued
from neglect and oblivion.
The most valuable point of it is that
the manure is equalized in value, and
Peter is not robbed to pay Paul in any
part of the farm. Some farmers known
to us have taken great pains to save
and use the liquid manure in way we
consider unwise. The liquid is saved
in a tank, pumped into barrel cart,
and carried and spread upon the fields.
This is well as far as it goes, but it does
not 90 far enough, and it goes too far.
There are the pit and the pump, but
there is the barrel cart, and this last is
an unnecessary expense. But this is
the least objection to it. The urine CON
tains fve-sixths of the nitrogen of the
food which has been used and nearly
all of the potash. By spreading the
urine alone port on of the land is un-
duly, and yet insufficientlY, enriched;
it gets nearly all the nitrogen, all the
potash, ana none of the paosphoric acid;
while the remainder of the field gets
tie impoverished solid manure which
contains chiefly the phosphoric
acid of the food. This is exceedingly
wasteful, because however much nitro
gen and potash we may apply to field,
if phosphoric acid is wanting, no useful
effect results; and however much phos-
phoric acid we may furnish it will be
unavailing if it is not accompanied by
a necessary supply Of the other ele-
ments. It is as great a mistake as a
hunter might make who carried with
him his gun and his shot-bag and sent
his companion off in another direction
with the powder-L SIX, and would ex-
pect between them to come home load
ed down with game. One alone could
do nothing, however well supplied he
might be with his ineffective materials,
Totally useless, however, unless in eff
fectiYe combination. And therefore it
is that it will not pay any farmer to take
pains to save the liquid manure unless
he makes suitable provision fer min
Cling it usefully with the solids.-N. 7,
Times