HOW TO SAVE LIQUID MANURE.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2609, 17 August 1882, Page 4

HOW TO SAVE LIQUID MANURE.

la ordinary farm practice, by far the larger part of the liquid manure of the stock kept is lost. ha effort is made to save it. There is no barn cellar, no gutter behind the stabled animals, no absorbents. Analysis ■hows that the liquid manure is quite as valuable as the solid, or even more so. In 1000 pounds of fresh horse dung there are 4.4 pounds of nitrogen, 3 5 of potash, and 3 5 of phosphoric acid. la horse urine there are 15,5 pounds of nitrogen, and 15.0 of potash. In 1000 pounds of fresh cattle dung there are 2.@ -pounds of nitrogen, 1 0 of potash, 1.7 of 'phosphoric acid. In the urine, 5 8 pounds of nitrogen, 4 9 of potash. Those are She most valuable constituents of manure, ■nd no farmer can afford to have them so

generally run to waste. There is very little lost where there is a gutter-well supplied with absorbents, and a barn cellar well coated with dried peat, mnok, or headlands, to absorb tho liquids as fast as they fall. But bam cellars are still in the minority. Mr Meohi bad a very expensive apparatus for distributing the liquid manure over his farm, by means of tanks and pipes, and thought it paid, but failed to'convicoe his contemporaries of the fact. However that may be, it is out Of the question to apply liquid manure in this manner economically, upon the average farm. It takes too much capital, and requires too much labor. By the use of absorbents, it can be done economically on a ■mall or large scale, with very little waste. Some nse a water-tight box, made of thick plank, covering the floor of the stall. This u a very sure way to save everything, and the only objection to it is the expense of the box, and the Increased labor of keeping the ■tails clean. We used for several years salt-marsh sod, out in blocks eight or ten inches square, taken from tho surface of the marsh in ditching. This had an enormous capacity for absorbing liquids, and a layer of these sods would keep a horse «r cow comfortably dry for a fortnight. Refuse hay or straw was used on top for purposes of cleanliness. The saturated sod was thrown into the compost heap with other manure, where it made an excellent Later we used sawdust, purchased for the purpose at two cents, a bushel, as bedding for a cow kept upon a cemented floor. A bed a foot thick would last nearly a month, when it was thrown out into the compost heap. The sawdust requires a longer time for decomposition, but saves the liquid manure. Our present experiment, covering several months, is with forest leaves, principally hickory, maple, white ash, and elm. A bushel of dried leaves, kept under a ■had for the purpose, is added to the bedding of each animal, and tho saturated leaves are removed with the solid manure as fast

aa they accumulate. The leaves become very fine by the constant treading of the animals, and by the beat of their bodies, and the manure pile grows rapidly. It is but a little additional labor to the ordinary task of keeping animals clean in their stalls, to use some good absorbent, and enough of it, to save all the liquid manure. What the absorbent shall be is a question of minor importance. Convenience will generally determine this matter. Ho labor upon the farm pays better than to ■aye the urine of all farm stock by means of absorbents. These ore in great variety, and, in some form, are within reach of every man that keeps cattle or runs a farm.