HOW TO SAVE LIQUID MANURE.

Globe, Volume XXII, Issue 2106, 23 November 1880, Page 4

HOW TO SAVE LIQUID MANURE.

An inquiry has come to hand (says the V-Prairie-'-Farmer") in regard to the value of liquid manure—the urine of domestio animals; —and the simplest mode of saving it. When . it is reoolleoted that it ia to the urine in it that barnyard' manure chiefly oweß its fer- ■ tilising properties both as regards nitrogen , and salts, the. value of liquid exorementary matter will be appreciated. Some of the most , .eminent authorities deny that there is any available nitrogen in horse manure. In > IGOlbs of barnyard manure, where it has been: properly oared for, as has been found by ana-'4ydsrthera-ar«6slbrof water. Of the remaining . 351bs 25 are inert carbonaceous matter, leaving buti 10 per cent, of inorganic substances, -. and oi6 of nitrogen as true; fertilising matters. This, it must be borne .in mind, is based upon good manure, and nob. such as has boen thrown from , stables and subjeoted to sun and rain which . will drive.out and leach out about everything whioh will cause a .plant to grow, leaving I little or nothing that is soluble. But urine, rotted with-water, contains a large quantity . o£ nitrogen and many .valuable salts also, . already dissolved and suitable at once for plant food. The urine of all animals is very much alike in chemioal constituents. --For preserving the liquid various methods i are employed. The floors of the Btalls in whioh the animal stand are laid with a slight . incline, from which the urine runs off into, a ■mall gutter immediately in the rear of the ~ stall, and is conveyed to some receptacle pro- , viied for it, under, or very near the barn. The following description of suoh a tank was ~ recently given hyr Professor Q. O. Caldwell:—>■ <! first of all, a suitable water-tight covered , receptacle must be provided, whioh should be deep rather than shallow, and have a capacity , of ten to twelve gallons for every adult , animal in the Btalls, on the supposition that it will be emptied once or twice a week. This tank may consist simply of a hogshead _ sunk in the ground; but it ■ will be cheaper in the , long run if built of stone, laid in a mixture of '. coal-tar, pitch and sand, liquefied by heat, or of : brick first warmed and soaked in tar, and then ; laid in the same manner. The tank should have a banking of clay. 'A supply of water should be provided in addition to that coming from the stalls, which .may be turned into the tank at pleasurej with -this the manure can be diluted before it is applied, and the manure pile can be kept ..moist, for it will be,poor policy while making .liquid manure to .let the solid manure burn tip. by too rapid fermentation." The urea .whioh exists in urine constitute .. its chief value, and when the latter begins to •• ferment, the former changes into carbonate of ammonia, and escapes rapidly into the air unless means to prevent it are employed.' The tank should be kept oovered, and sol.phurio acid, plaster, orjpeat, oan be mixed]with '.it, to prevent the ammonia from passing off, which-will be detected by its pungent odour. When it is desired to apply to the £ old or to ■ the crops light carts or hogsheads' are employed. " i