Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Manure
MANURE, denotes any substance employed for improving land, whether by remedying its natural poverty, or by correcting its too great stiffness, looseness, or other qualities unfavourable to vegetation. It is usually divided into four classes, viz. Animal, Vegetable, Fossil, and Fluid.
I. Animal Manures comprehend the several parts of animals, such as their fat, dung, urine, &c.
1. Dung.—Having already pointed out the general properties of dung, under that article, we shall only observe, that the excrementitious matter of privies is supposed to exceed every other kind of manure, during the first year it is applied; in the second, its beneficial effects are less evident; and, in the third year, they almost entirely disappear. The quantity necessary for land in a good condition is, by Mr. Middleton, computed to be about two loads per acre, annually; which, in his opinion, will always preserve its fertility. He farther remarks, that exhausted ground may be perfectly restored, by laying on four or five loads of night-soil per acre, for the first year; after which, two loads annually will be found amply sufficient to keep the land in the highest degree of cultivation.
2. Fish.—Herrings, pilchards, and mackerel, afford an excellent manure; being chiefly used in those parts of Britain where they are caught in the greatest abundance, and seldom fail to produce rich crops.—In some parts of Cambridgeshire, stickle-backs (Gasterosteus aculeatus, L.) are employed for the same purpose, in the proportion of twenty bushels per acre: and, if it were possible to introduce the Caviar (which see) into British seas, this measure would be highly beneficial to agriculture.
3. Bones, to which we refer.
4. Urine is well calculated for manure: it is so far preferable to dung, as no seeds of weeds are deposited in the ground with the former; and, if the land be well watered with this fluid, such irrigation will be attended with the best effects.
5. Horn-shavings. See Horn.
6. The chippings or scraps of skins and hides (being the refuse of furriers and curriers) are of great utility on land intended to be sown with wheat or barley. They should be scattered by hand on the soil, and speedily ploughed in; because any pieces, left on the surface, are immediately devoured by crows and dogs. The proper quantity of this manure is, two or three quarters per acre, which should be scattered a short time before the seed is committed to the ground:—such chippings are peculiarly calculated for light, dry soils, but are seldom productive of any benefit to wet, or clay lands.
7. Sheep's-trotters, and fellmonger's cuttings, are employed on similar soils, though in the proportion of from 20 to 40 bushels per acre. They should likewise be ploughed in, to prevent the depredations of dogs and crows.
8. The soiled or damaged locks of wool, or trimmings of sheep, deserve to be more generally known as a fertilizing article: they are at present chiefly used in the county of Surrey, for ameliorating the hop-grounds.
9. Woollen rags are an excellent manure; but, instead of being collected in a heap, similar to a dung-hill, they ought to be cut into small pieces in a paper-mill; strewed by hand; and ploughed in, three months before wheat or barley is commonly sown: the usual quantity is from six to ten cwt. per acre; though, in the county of Kent, a ton weight is spread on each acre every third year, for hops. On account of retaining their moisture, such rags are eminently adapted to dry, gravelly, or chalky soils; the fertility of which will thus be considerably increased, especially during dry seasons. The only obstacle to their more general adoption, appears to be the apprehension entertained by many farmers, of catching the small-pox by chopping and scattering the rags; but, since the virulence of that disorder may be subdued by inoculation, those fears are certainly groundless.
10. Insects. See p. 20, of the present volume.
II. Vegetable Manures are either whole plants, or parts of vegetables, together with their ashes, &c. which are sometimes ploughed in, while growing, and are afterwards burnt, or otherwise decomposed.
1. Wheat-straw, according to Mr. Bordley, is a very valuable article; but it ought to be ploughed in, "when it is muck-wet from soaking rains that have softened it;" for, if it be turned into the ground under less favourable circumstances, it is seldom of any advantage.
2. Weeds, such as dock-roots, cabbage-stalks, the roots of couch-grass, &c. are of great service: hence Dr. Darwin pertinently remarks, that they should not be improvidently thrown into the highway, or consumed by fire, as too frequently happens: on the contrary, if laid on the ground in heaps, occasionally turned over, and covered with soil, they will inevitably perish, and speedily ferment, on account of the sugar and mucilage which they contain. The decomposition of weeds is still more effectually accelerated, on adding quick or newly-burnt lime, by which they are rapidly converted into a most valuable manure. For this purpose, Mr. Henry Browne, an ingenious chemist of Derby, directs a layer of green vegetable matter to be formed, about one foot in thickness, on which a very thin stratum of pulverized lime is to be scattered; and such alternate layers are to be continued till the pile is of a sufficient height. When these materials have lain together for a few hours, a dissolution of parts will commence; and, in order to prevent the inflammation of the whole mass, a few sods, or a small portion of fresh vegetable matter, ought to be added. In the course of twenty-four hours, the process will be complete, when a quantity of excellent ashes will be ready to be laid on the land. Weeds and vegetables of every description, if used green, will answer the same purpose, and thus be productive of double advantage to the farmer; because they may not only be collected at a small expence, but will in a few years render his farm more valuable, by exterminating all noxious plants.
3. Sea-weed is a valuable manure for garden-grounds, and destroys every kind of vermin. The best is cut from the rocks on the sea-coast; but, as this marine vegetable is frequently thrown on shore, it may be useful to state, that the better kind resembles the haulms of peas; and the inferior sort is known by its long, shrub-like stalk: they may be either spread on the land in a fresh state, or previously laid up in heaps, and suffered to putrefy.
River, or pond-weeds, and especially the River-conferva, are equally beneficial; being particularly calculated for turnips or wheat, if ploughed in upon a sandy soil; but they produce no effect on land that abounds with springs, or is liable to inundation; the quantity laid on, varies from twelve to fourteen loads per acre.
Considerable benefit has likewise been derived from turning in vetches, buck-wheat, or rape, upon old-ploughed lands, which are thus greatly improved.—Turnips, when injured by the frost, may also be employed as a valuable manure; because they are believed to prevent the germination of the seeds contained in weeds, which enter the heaps of dung; and, when stirred among the latter, promote their putrefaction.
4. The ashes of fern, stubble, peat, &c. of which we have already treated in p. 126 of our first volume.
5. Peat is not sufficientiy known as an article of manure. It is usually employed in a burnt state, for a top-dressing; but, as it is formed of the solid parts of morasses, and consists of vegetable fibres, more or less decomposed, it may be laid on clayey sois with the greatest advantage.—Dr. Darwin remarks, that peat ought to be considered as an inestimable treasure to the farms in its vicinity: he suggests the propriety of throwing it previously into heaps, either with or without the addition of lime; then exposing it to the air, and draining the water from it, in order to expedite its decomposition.
6. Rape-cake, which is obtained after expressing all the oily particles from rape-seed: it affords, when pulverized, an useful manure for wheat.—Rape-dust is equally serviceable as a top-dressing for turnips; and should be spread on the land in the proportion of 10 cwt. per acre.
7. The bark of oak, or rather tanner's waste, which has been suffered completely to putrefy, affords an excellent manure for cold, stiff, clay-soils; one load being more efficacious than a double quantity of the richest dung.—If oak-bark be designed for grass-land, it ought to be spread shortly after Michaelmas, that the winter-rains may wash it into the ground: for, if applied in the spring, it will burn the grass, and exhaust, rather than ameliorate the soil, for that season. On the contrary, if intended for corn-fields, it should be spread immediately before the last ploughing, in order that it may be turned down, so as to come in contact with the early fibres or roots of the corn; because, when lying too near the surface during the winter, it unnaturally hastens vegetation; and, with the approaching spring, the young buds of the grain will perish from the severity of night frosts.
III. Fossil Manures consist of various kinds of earth, sand, chalk, marle, &c. all which, in a greater or less degree, contribute to the amelioration of land. See Crag, Clay, Chalk, Gypsum, Lime, Marle, and Sand.
1. Coal-ashes (see p. 20, and foll. of our 2d vol.) are of extensive utility as a manure. They are particularly adapted to clay-lands, for correcting their cold, ungenial quality; but they should not be ploughed in too deep. These ashes may likewise be employed as a top-dressing for clover, on dry chalky lands, over which they ought to be scattered in the months of March or April, in the proportion of from 50 to 60 bushels per acre: they have also been advantageously spread on sward or grass-lands, either in the winter, or during the spring.
2. Soot, which will be discussed in its alphabetical place.
3. Clay, when previously calcined or burnt, improves cold, wet, sandy soils; and has been found very serviceable to close, stiff lands. The excellence of this manure is very conspicuous in the North Riding of Yorkshire, where the ground is so sandy as to produce, with any other manure, only rye; with clay, it yields abundant crops of oats, barley, &c. The usual proportion, laid on meadow, pasture, or corn lands, is from ten to twelve loads per acre; and so permanent are its fertilizing properties, that it becomes unnecessary to repeat the operation of claying, for the period of forty-five years.
4. Sand, to which we refer.
5. Salt is justly asserted to be one of the most grateful manures to vegetation, as cattle are not only more healthy, but fatten more speedily on pastures, where it has been properly scattered. It is of great utility for raising turnips, as well as for producing abundance of corn; the straw being strong; the grain thin-hulled, heavy, and, on the whole, better than that from many other manures. Besides, it sweetens sour pastures; improves and increases the herbage; while it destroys all noxious insects. The proper quantity is sixteen bushels per acre; for, if a larger proportion be used, its beneficial effects will be diminished, and vegetation be eventually destroyed.
IV. Fluid Manures comprehend Water; Oil-Compost; Mud (which see); and all liquid matters that are employed with a view to ameliorate land.
Under the article Irrigation, we have treated of the utility of water, and pointed out the best manner of applying it to the soil: we shall, therefore, at present, only remark, that the liquor of farm-yards has been successfully tried on meadows, and wheat-fields, both of which were thus rendered uncommonly fertile. This fluid may also be used with great advantage for land sown with barley, oats, or other grain; but, if it be intended for grass-lands, it ought to be sprinkled on them only during the winter, when the rains wash the saline particles into the soil; or early in the spring, when the ground is laid up for hay; because no cattle will feed on the grass, while the salt or dung adheres to the blade.—Farther, it will be necessary to convey this ameliorating liquor to the field during dry weather, when the dung-water in the reservoirs is of a deep brown colour, and strongly impregnated with salt. Thus, the land may be irrigated as often as occasion may require; and the pools kept constantly empty, for the reception of fresh fertilizing matter.
As manure promotes the growth of plants; as its fermentation and warmth disposes the soil for the more easy admission of nourishing moisture from the air; and as it thus eventually contributes to the support and comfort of mankind, the manner in which it is to be applied, merits some attention.
Every kind of manure, Mr. Bordley justly observes, ought to be carefully collected, duly sheltered, and ploughed in, as speedily as possible after it has been carried to the field; the implements and labourers being ready on the spot. He directs the loads to be ranged in lengths; the dung to be spread and immediately ploughed in, "line by line;" because it more readily dissolves in the ground when newly covered, and its whole strength is thus secured to the soil.
Where the manure collected in heaps is to be ploughed under clayey soils, that are liable to become too solid and impenetrable to the fibres of wheat, or other plants; and also, where potatoes, or similar bulbous roots, are intended to be turned in, with a view to produce a crop beneath the soil; Dr. Darwin conceives the most advantageous method of using such compost would be, to bury it before it is perfectly decomposed; for it will thus prevent the surface of the land from becoming too firm: and, notwithstanding the putrefaction will consequently be somewhat retarded, yet the fertilizing substances will in the end totally decay, and afford to the roots an equal, though more gradual, portion of nourishment.—The most proper season for ploughing or turning in such manures, Dr. Darwin agrees with Mr. Bordley, to be immediately before the seeds are sown, or the roots are set; because the atmospheric air, which is buried with the dung, in consequence of its union with carbon in the interstices of the earth, gradually evolves a genial heat, that greatly promotes vegetation.
With respect to those manures, which are to be spread on the surface of grass or other land, and which are called top-dressings, the most favourable season for applying them appears to be the early spring; when they should be spread over the soil in a state of coarse powder, or in small lumps which cohere but slightly; because the vernal showers will then wash them into the soil, so that the young stems of grass may easily penetrate.
As, however, the proper mode of collecting and preserving manures is attended with considerable expence, the most economical manner of distributing it, requires no common skill. This object is in a great measure attained by the drill-husbandry, the principal advantage of which consists in putting the manure into drills. Mr. Parkinson (in his Experienced Farmer, vol. i. p. 32) directs such drills to be made at the distance of two feet from each other: thus, he sows wheat, peas, beans, and cabbages; from the result of which this intelligent cultivator maintains, that four loads per acre in the drill-husbandry, are equal to sixteen loads in the usnal way of spreading it over the whole of the field.
Lastly, for situations where it is difficult to procure such manures as are conducive to the fertility of the soil, we shall communicate the following chemical compound, which was lately invented by Dr. Bahrens, a reputable German clergyman.—According to the theory adopted by the continental writers on agriculture, those substances which yield, or evolve, the largest quantity of carbonic acid gas, or inflammable air, afford the principal matter of manure. Consistently with this theory. Dr. Bahrens has liberally published an account of the mode of preparing and applying his newly-discovered preparation, of which the following is a correct translation:—Take half a peck of common salt, roast it in a pan till it ceases to crackle; then put it in an old iron pot over a fire sufficiently strong to reduce it to a glowing and shining state, like a melted metal; when it should be poured into another vessel for cooling. Thus it will form a hard stony mass, which must be broken into fragments, and immediately dissolved in three large pailfuls of boiling liquor from farm-yards, before the former has attracted any moisture. When it is completely incorporated, the whole is removed from the fire, and well mixed in a trough, with six pailfuls of good moor-earth taken from ponds, or of the richest mire collected under dunghills. Having prepared this mixture, it will be necessary to add such a proportion of wood-ashes as is required to convert the whole fluid mass into a thick paste. In order to conclude the process, two bushels of fresh unslacked lime should be procured, and disposed of in this manner: first, it will be necessary to make a hole in the ground for a reservoir, which ought to be capacious enough to hold all the ingredients; and the sides of which are to be lined with bricks or stone-work, so as to be perfectly tight. A layer of the above described composition is now spread on the bottom of this subterraneous magazine, and immediately over it, a thin stratum of coarsely pounded lime-stone; then again a similar portion of the former, and another of the latter, alternately, till the whole is properly arranged. This management, however, ought to be undertaken by two persons, and with the greatest expedition, to prevent both the fermentation of the materials from taking place too early, and the escape of the inflammable gas into the atmosphere: for the same reason, the surface of the compound, or the top of the reservoir, must be speedily covered with swards or turf, to exclude every access of air. After remaining at rest for a few days, the internal commotion and heat will cease; and the whole be reduced to a dry, fine powder, which is fit for immediate use.—Dr. Bahrens directs such powder to be thinly strewed over the land, after the seed has been sown and once harrowed, so that it may be duly mingled with the soil by the subsequent operations of the harrow—He observes, from repeated experiments, that this compound has been productive of great advantage, not only to every species of grain and garden-fruits, but also to meadows and pastures; the quantity above stated, being sufficient to manure a whole acre (consisting of 180 poles or rods square, decimal measure), which nearly agrees with our computation of English acres. And, if this artificial composition be applied for two successive years, its fertilizing properties continue undiminished for the three subsequent crops; so that the soil will thus be improved for five years, in a manner equal to that obtained from the richest dung.—We confess our inexperience of the effects of this remarkable compost; but, as it has the sanction of a respectable authority, aind is not attended with any considerable essence (though the trouble of preparing it may, in this country, be a serious objection), we do not hesitate to recommend it to the attention of our practical agriculturists, whose skill and industry will doubtless enable them to overcome many obstacles.