Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1891-01-03
MAKING MANURE.

showing Inc great percentage OF increase
IN some of the more favored countries OF
Europe.-Prairie Farmer.
MAKING MANURE.
The farmer cannot make manure un.
less be has the materials for so doing.
nor can any and all kinds of substances
be converted into manure without prep
aration. What is meant by the term
making" manure is the handling and
treatment of the manure, and the coarse
materials that may be aided thereto. in a
manner to reduce them to proper plant
food There is difference between
manure and compost. The one is that
which Is voided by the animals, and is
rich IN all the elements of nutrition. The
other is a mixture of manure aud COL
lected materials, the skill of the farmer
being necessary to reduce them to the re.
quired condition. The animals perform
the work IN speedy manner when food
Is passed through the body. The farmer
must 40 the work himself in the other
case, and by slower process.
As has been frequently stated, bulk does
not give quality, and it sometimes lessons
the value of manure because it en-
tails more labor to handle and
haul it than can be derived from
the manure as plant food. To com.
pensate for this expense of labor the value
of the manure must be increased, and the
smaller the bulk in proportion to plant
food contained the greater the value of the
whole, and the smaller the cost of produc-
ton and application to the land. Making
manure, then, is to not only add more ma
nure to the heap, save all the valuable con-
stiiueDts and reduce the whole to a fine
condition, but also to perform the work at
time when labor is least expensive and
not so urgently required for other purposes,
and this time is the winter season. Manure
from the horse heats sooner than that from
the COW, and that from the COW sooner than
the manure from the pig. These facts show
that manures should be intimately mixed,
as one kind evolves ammonia sooner than
the other, and the addition of absorbents
arrests the process Of decomposition, pre-
vents the escape of volatile matter, and
better enables the farmer to control the fer
mentation of the heap, as loss always re-
suits from fermentation unless the farmer
guards against it.
The quantity of water in fresh manure
is very large, varying from 60 to 80 per
cent, according to the food from which it
is produced by the animal. A COW fed
upon hay voiding 200 pounds of manure,
gives really only fifty pounds of dry man.
ure. If fed upon turnips the proportion
of water in the manure is twice as much
as when the COW is fed upon dry food. The
evaporation OF this water carries with it
valuable properties that the farmer cannot
afford to lose, and the longer the fresh
manure is exposed the less its value. To
make manure. then, is to add absorbent
materials in a fine condition to the fresh
manure in order that the watery matter
may be saved and the whole rendered oil
value 10 the farmer, and his object should
be 20 use the absorbents skillful1y, and no,
carelessly, as is often the case.-Philadel-
phia Record.
KEEP POULTRY HEALTHY.
How to have healthy poultry and how to
keep them healthy is entirely too much
overlooked and neglected by the majority
who have the care and keeping of them
SAYS the Practical Farmer. The many dis.
eases to which they are heir is charged "a
the poultrymen: in fact. the main cause il
the carelessness of those in whose charge
they are. Knowing that it is easier e
avoid than to cure dlsease, why should
there not be more interest taken In avoid
ing many Of the more wiIlful wrongs to
which they are subjected. and in providing
them with proper roosting- houses. with
sufficient ventilation, guarding against the
other extreme in having them exposed ia