Talks on Manures Part 51

According to Prof. Wolff's table of a.n.a.lyses, sheep-manure, both solid and liquid, contain less water than the manure from horses, cows, or swine. With the exception of swine, the solid dung is also the richest in nitrogen, while the urine of sheep is pre-eminently rich in nitrogen and potash.

These facts are in accordance with the general opinions of farmers.

Sheep-manure is considered, next to hen-manure, the most valuable manure made on the farm.

I do not think we have any satisfactory evidence to prove that 3 tons of clover-hay and a ton of corn fed to a lot of fattening-sheep will afford a quant.i.ty of manure containing any more plant-food than the same kind and amount of food fed to a lot of fattening-cattle. The experiments of Lawes & Gilbert indicate that if there is any difference it is in favor of the ox. See Appendix, page 343. But it may well be that it is much easier to save the manure from the sheep than from the cattle. And so, practically, sheep may be better manure-makers than cattle--for the simple reason that less of the urine is lost.

"As a rule," said the Doctor, "the dung of sheep contains far less water than the dung of cattle, though when you slop your breeding ewes to make them give more milk, the dung differs but little in appearance from that of cows. Ordinarily, however, sheep-dung is light and dry, and, like horse-dung, will ferment much more rapidly than cow or pig-dung. In piling manure in the winter or spring, special pains should be used to mix the sheep and horse-manure with the cow and pig-manure. And it may be remarked that for any crop or for any purpose where stable-manure is deemed desirable, sheep-manure would be a better subst.i.tute than cow or pig-manure."

MANURE FROM SWINE.

The dry matter of hog-manure, especially the urine, is rich in nitrogen, but it is mixed with such a large quant.i.ty of water that a ton of hog-manure, as it is usually found in the pen, is less valuable than a ton of horse or sheep-manure, and only a little more valuable than a ton of cow-manure.

As I have before said, my own plan is to let the store-hogs sleep in a bas.e.m.e.nt-cellar, and bed them with horse and sheep-manure. I have this winter over 50 sows under the horse-stable, and the manure from 8 horses keeps them dry and comfortable, and we are not specially lavish with straw in bedding the horses.

During the summer we aim to keep the hogs out in the pastures and orchards as much as possible. This is not only good for the health of the pigs, but saves labor and straw in the management of the manure. It goes directly to the land. The pigs are good grazers and distribute the manure as evenly over the land as sheep--in fact, during hot weather, sheep are even more inclined to huddle together under the trees, and by the side of the fence, than pigs. This is particularly the case with the larger breeds of sheep.

In the winter it is not a difficult matter to save all the liquid and solid excrements from pigs, provided the pens are dry and no water comes in from the rain and snow. As pigs are often managed, this is the real difficulty. Pigs void an enormous quant.i.ty of water, especially when fed on slops from the house, whey, etc. If they are kept in a pen with a separate feeding and sleeping apartment, both should be under cover, and the feeding apartment may be kept covered a foot or so thick with the soiled bedding from the sleeping apartment. When the pigs get up in a morning, they will go into the feeding apartment, and the liquid will be discharged on the ma.s.s of manure, straw, etc.

"Dried muck," said the Deacon, "comes in very handy about a pig-pen, for absorbing the liquid."

"Yes," said I, "and even dry earth can be used to great advantage, not merely to absorb the liquid, but to keep the pens sweet and healthy. The three chief points in saving manure from pigs are: 1, To have the pens under cover; 2, to keep the feeding apartment or yard covered with a thick ma.s.s of strawy manure and refuse of any kind, and 3, to scatter plenty of dry earth or dry muck on the floor of the sleeping apartment, and on top of the manure in the feeding apartment."

"You feed most of your pigs," said the Deacon, "out of doors in the yard, and they sleep in the pens or bas.e.m.e.nt cellars, and it seems to me to be a good plan, as they get more fresh air and exercise than if confined."

"We do not lose much manure," said I, "by feeding in the yards. You let a dozen pigs sleep in a pen all night, and as soon as they hear you putting the food in the troughs outside, they come to the door of the pen, and there discharge the liquid and solid excrements on the ma.s.s of manure left there on purpose to receive and absorb them. I am well aware that as pigs are often managed, we lose at least half the value of their manure, but there is no necessity for this. A little care and thought will save nearly the whole of it."

BUYING MANURE BY MEASURE OR WEIGHT.

The Deacon and I have just been weighing a bushel of different kinds of manure made on the farm. We made two weighings of each kind, one thrown in loose, and the other pressed down firm. The following is the result:

Weight of Manure per Bushel, and per Load of 50 Bushels.

Wt/Bu Weight per Bushel in lbs.

Wt/Load Weight per Load of 50 bushels.

---+--------------------------------------------+-------+--------- No. Kind And Condition Of Manures. Wt/Bu Wt/Load ---+--------------------------------------------+-------+--------- lbs. lbs.

1. Fresh horse-manure free from straw 37 1875 2. " " " " " " pressed 55 2750 3. Fresh horse-manure, as used for bedding pigs 28 1400 4. " " " " " " " " pressed 46 2300 5. Horse-manure from pig cellar 50 2500 6. " " " " " pressed 72 3600 7. Pig-manure 57 2850 8. " " pressed 75 3750 9. Pig-manure and dry earth 98 4900 10. Sheep-manure from open shed 42 2100 11. " " " " " pressed 65 3250 12. Sheep-manure from closed shed 28 1400 13. " " " " " pressed 38 1900 14. Fresh cow-dung, free from straw 87 4350 15. Hen-manure 34 1700 16. " " pressed 48 2400 ---+--------------------------------------------+-------+---------

"In buying manure," said the Deacon, "it makes quite a difference whether the load is trod down solid or thrown loosely into the box.

A load of fresh horse-manure, when trod down, weighs half as much again as when thrown in loose."

"A load of horse-manure," said Charley, "after it has been used for bedding pigs, weighs 3,600 lbs., and only 2,300 lbs. when it is thrown into the pens, and I suppose a ton of the 'double-worked' manure is fully as valuable as a ton of the fresh horse-manure. If so, 15 'loads'

of the pig-pen manure is equal to 24 'loads' of the stable-manure."

"A ton of fresh horse-manure," said the Doctor, "contains about 9 lbs.

of nitrogen; a ton of fresh cow-dung about 6 lbs.; a ton of fresh sheep-dung, 11 lbs., and a ton of fresh pig-manure, 12 lbs. But if the Deacon and you weighed correctly, a 'load' or cord of cow-manure would contain more nitrogen than a load of pressed horse-manure. The figures are as follows:

A load of 50 bushels of fresh horse-dung, pressed and free from straw contains 12.37 lbs. nitrogen.

A load of fresh cow-dung 13.05 " "

" " sheep " 10.45 " "

" " pig " 22.50 " "

"These figures," said I, "show how necessary it is to look at this subject in all its aspects. If I was buying manures _by weight,_ I would much prefer a ton of sheep-manure, if it had been made under cover, to any other manure except hen-dung, especially if it contained all the urine from the sheep. But if buying manure by the load or cord, that from a covered pig-pen would be preferable to any other."

LIQUID MANURE ON THE FARM.

I have never had any personal experience in the use of liquid manure to any crop except gra.s.s. At Rothamsted, Mr. Lawes used to draw out the liquid manure in a water-cart, and distribute it on gra.s.s land.

"What we want to know," said the Deacon, "is whether the liquid from our barn-yards will pay to draw out. If it will, the proper method of using it can be left to our ingenuity."

According to Prof. Wolff, a ton of urine from horses, cows, sheep, and swine, contains the following amounts of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, and, for the sake of comparison, I give the composition of drainage from the barn-yard, and also of fresh dung of the different animals:

Table Showing the Amount of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash, in One Ton of the Fresh Dung and Fresh Urine of Different Animals, and Also of the Drainage of the Barn-Yard.

Nitro(gen).

Phos(phoric) Acid.

Pot(ash).

---------------+----------------------+----------------------- 1 Ton Fresh Dung. 1 Ton Fresh Urine.

---------------+-------+-------+------+-------+-------+------- Nitro. Phos. Pot. Nitro. Phos. Pot.

acid. acid. ---------------+-------+-------+------+-------+-------+------- lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs. lbs.

Horse 8.8 7.0 7.0 31.0 30.0 Cow 5.8 3.4 2.0 11.6 9.8 Sheep 11.0 6.2 3.0 39.0 0.2 45.2 Swine 12.0 8.2 5.2 8.6 1.4 16.6 Mean 9.4 6.2 4.3 22.5 0.4 25.4 Drainage of barn-yard 3.0 0.2 9.8 ---------------+-------+-------+------+-------+-------+-------

The drainage from a barn-yard, it will be seen, contains a little more than half as much nitrogen as cow-dung; and it is probable that the nitrogen in the liquid is in a much more available condition than that in the dung. It contains, also, nearly five times as much potash as the dung. It would seem, therefore, that with proper arrangements for pumping and distributing, this liquid could be drawn a short distance with profit.

But whether it will or will not pay to cart away the drainage, it is obviously to our interest to prevent, as far as possible, any of the liquid from running to waste.

It is of still greater importance to guard against any loss of urine. It will be seen that, on the average, a ton of the urine of our domestic animals contains more than twice as much nitrogen as a ton of the dung.

Where straw, leaves, swamp-muck, or other absorbent materials are not sufficiently abundant to prevent any loss of urine, means should be used to drain it into a tank so located that the liquid can either be pumped back on to the manure when needed, or drawn away to the land.

"I do not see," said the Deacon, "why horse and sheep-urine should contain so much more nitrogen and potash than that from the cow and pig."

"The figures given by Prof. Wolff," said I, "are general averages. The composition of the urine varies greatly. The richer the food in digestible nitrogenous matter, the more nitrogen will there be in the dry matter of the urine. And, other things being equal, the less water the animal drinks, the richer will the urine be in nitrogen. The urine from a sheep fed solely on turnips would contain little or no more nitrogen than the urine of a cow fed on turnips. An ox or a dry cow fed on gra.s.s would probably void no more nor no poorer urine than a horse fed on gra.s.s. The urine that Mr. Lawes drew out in a cart on to his gra.s.s-land was made by sheep that had one lb. each of oil-cake per day, and one lb. of chaffed clover-hay, and all the turnips they would eat.

They voided a large quant.i.ty of urine, but as the food was rich in nitrogen, the urine was doubtless nearly or quite as rich as that a.n.a.lyzed by Prof. Wolff, though that probably contained less water."

If I was going to draw out liquid manure, I should be very careful to spout all the buildings, and keep the animals and manure as much under cover as possible, and also feed food rich in nitrogen. In such circ.u.mstances, it would doubtless pay to draw the urine full as well as to draw the solid manure.

NIGHTSOIL AND SEWAGE.

The composition of human excrements, as compared with the mean composition of the excrements from horses, cows, sheep, and swine, so far as the nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash are concerned, is as follows:

Table Showing the Amount of Nitrogen, Phosphoric Acid, and Potash, in One Ton of Fresh Human Excrements, and in One Ton of Fresh Excrements From Horses, Cows, Sheep, and Swine.