IMPROVE- THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN
MITCHELL, of Huntingdonshire, Farmer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirteenth day of
January, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight, in the eleventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Benjamin Mitchell, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Benjamin Mitchell,
my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said Benjamin
Mitchell, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVE-
THE MANUFACTURE OF MANURE;" in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Benjamin Mitchell, should cause a
particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of
Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of
the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Benjamin Mitchell, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention

page_text: and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention has for its object the preparation of manure by combining
vegetable with animal or other matter, so that the same may be applied or
deposited in the land by the ordinary compost drill.
It is well known that the general mode adopted by agriculturists of making
manure is, to litter down their cattle or other animals with straw or haulm,
and in some instances the straw is cut by machines into lengths of four or six
inches, which enables them to lay it upon the land as soon as it is made, or
fermented for a short time, as the manure so made is more easily ploughed or
deposited in the land; but in no instance is it so prepared, when straw, haulm,
&c. are made use of, that it can be deposited by the ordinary compost drill.
In order that my Invention may be most fully understood, I will proceed to
describe the mode adopted by myself in making the manure for depositing with
a compost drill. I litter down the floor of any convenient building, protected
from rain and the weather, with cut straw, not exceeding a half to one inch in
length, or the chaff which is obtained from dressing corn or seed, being careful
that no straw or earrings, or any other substance exceeding one inch in length,
is made use of, upon which I feed cattle, pigs, or other animals, and as they
require fresh litter, more cut straw or chaff is added, until a sufficient quantity
is obtained; it is then removed to a separate department, upon the floor of
which I first place six inches of sifted ashes, and about one foot of the com-
post from the cattle, pigs, &c., and if I can obtain any dead animals of fish, I
have the flesh cut into small pieces, mix these with the compost until the heap
is five or six feet thick, upon which I place eight or twelve inches of sifted
ashes; sometimes I take night soil, in which case I make a heap of compost
as before stated (except the flesh of dead animals or fish), and upon the top
lay the night soil so that the fluid portion will percolate into the heap, and
upon the night soil as before described sifted ashes. After it has laid in this
state for a month a part of the ashes is taken from the top and the heap
turned over, being careful that the outsides of the heap are turned into the
middle, and the ashes which were removed from the top to be replaced. After
laying again for a month or five weeks, I have the whole thoroughly mixed
and broken into pieces with forks, and passed through a riddle with orifices
not exceeding one inch, after which it is ready for drilling or depositing into
the land.
From the above description, it will be seen that my object is to get the
manure more quickly ready for being deposited by drills. It is well known
that if manure composed of comparatively long straw be allowed to stand

page_text: for a considerable length of time, it will become suitably rotten and break
readily to pieces so as to pass through a similar sieve, and can then be used by
depositing drills; such long process of rotting is, however, prejudicial: whereas
by my Invention, the straw being cut sufficiently small as herein described,
it can, after being used as litter and treated as herein explained, be at
once employed in drills without waiting for the straw to become so rotten as
to break readily to pieces; hence a better manure will be obtained, time will be
saved, and other advantages will result from my process.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the best means I am
acquainted with for performing the same, I would have it understood that I do
not claim the making of manure or compost by littering animals with cut straw
or chaff. But what I claim is, the making of manure as above described by
using straw cut very short, or chaff obtained from dressing corn or seeds, as
litter, taking care that the matters are free from straw, earrings, or other sub-
stances which would prevent the depositing of the same by the ordinary
compost drill.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Mitchell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.