LIQUID MANURE ON THE FARM.
I have never had any personal experience in the use of liquid manure to any crop except grass. At Rothamsted, Mr. Lawes used to draw out the liquid manure in a water-cart, and distribute it on grass 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. acid. | Pot. | Nitro. | Phos. acid. | Pot. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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.