River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1890-07-24
FARM AND GARDEN
LIQUID MANURE.
5est Way of Saving and Applying 1.-THE
Brommer Method.

/ LiQOtC Wr-iNohG.
! 5est Way of Saving and Applying 1.-THE
Brommer Method.
| The BONNER method is not specially
Intended for the application of liquid
manure, but saves it with absorDents
made into a compost placed over pit
INTO which the liquid drains. There is
water-tight cistern made on the sur
lace a foot or so in depth, and this is
covered with rails or logs, or an open
loor upon which the manure is heaped.
The manure is mixed with any thing of
fertilizing character no matter what
It is, so that it will absorb manure and
iecay and make plant food. The sta
bles are drained, and the drains flow
| into the cistern. A common wooden
pump is fitted in the center by which
the liquid is brought up and poured over
the heap. The heap receives all the
rain water, and any excess of 1t sinks
! through the heap and is caught in the
cistern and dilutes the liquid manure
in it.
| This is a simple affair, but it is a very
useful suggestion, and serves valuable
/ purpose. 1t is most timely just now in
view of the modern discoveries in re-
gard to the nitrification of the soil and
the certain development of nitrates
/ from the free nitrogen of the atmos-
| phere, made by Prof. Hellriegel, and
corroborated by experiments of Sir. j.
b. Lawes during the last two years.
/ Sir j. Il. Lawes' reports, just now pub
| lished, of his tests in 1883 and 1889
have satisfied him-as far as his ex-
tremely cautious and conservative
| habit of mind Ia habit, by the way,
which might most usefully be initiated
/ by many other scientific experimenters)
| permits him to say-that HellriegePs
views are sound; for by the use OF an in
| fusion of soil under certain circum-
stances he found leguminous plants pro-
cured four or five times as much nitro
gen as he expected, and that this came
from the free nitrogen in the soil,
through the actions of certain we'll rec
| ognized organisms.
Now, the composing of organic matter
with earth or available soil has long
been known to produce large quantities
of nitrates, as witness the old method
/ of making saltpetre beds for the purpose
of procuring this nitrate for the manu-
| facture of gunpowder, a practice much
used before the discoveries of the South
| American nitre deposits. Hence this
so-called BONNER method gives much
| present interest just now. These or
| ganisms which exist in the soil must
exist also in the atmosphere and be
| brought down by the rain, and it only
requires heap of manure to be com
| posted with organic matter, with some
available soil as the yeast so to speak,
to start the fermentation, and to moisten
| the heap with the highly heterogeneous
! liquid manUres, and facilitate the pas
sage through it of the atmosphere,
which is done by Mr.. Bommer's plan of
| leaving an air-space under the heap, to
set this nitrifying agency at work, and
| to gather whatever of the atmospheric
nitrogen can be made available.
The old plan and the new discovery
| fit together admirably, and the old
! farmer who has passed away yet leaves
| behind him his useful work, which
/ should bring him well-deserved repu-
! tation, but one of which unfortunately
! he can not now enjoy the fruits. 1t is
| to be hoped that this old method may
not be patented by some new discoverer
who will tax the public for the work of
his appropriation. Lest this might
| happen, desire to inform your many
readers who may usefully put the
method in practice before any royalty
can be charged them for the use of it.
In these days of agricultural depres-
sion, every thing must count to reduce
expenses and increase products. Mill
ions Of tens Of liquid manure go to
waste every year, every ton of which
might yield twenty to thirty bushels of
corn extra, or reduce the area of land
cropped in proportion, and so lessen
cost of production. All this may be
saved most profitably in this way, and
the saving of it will develop a habit of
saving and utilizing other wastes to
work up with it.-Henry Stewart in
Country Gentleman.