MANURES FOR GARDENS AND ORCHARDS.
MANURE FOR MARKET-GARDENS.
The chief dependence of the market gardener must be on the stable-manure
which he can obtain from the city or village. The chief defect of this
manure is that it is not rich enough in available nitrogen. The active
nitrogen exists principally in the urine, and this in our city stables
is largely lost. A ton of fresh, unmixed horse-dung contains about 9
lbs. of nitrogen. A ton of horse-urine, 31 lbs. But this does not tell
the whole story. The nitrogen in the dung is contained in the crude,
undigested portions of the food. It is to a large extent insoluble and
unavailable, while the nitrogen in the urine is soluble and active.
The market-gardener, of course, has to take such manure as he can get,
and the only points to be considered are (1), whether he had better
continue to use an excessive quantity of the manure, or (2), to buy
substances rich in available nitrogen, and either mix them with the
manure, or apply them separately to the soil, or (3), whether he can use
this horse-manure as bedding for pigs to be fed on rich nitrogenous
food.
The latter plan I adopt on my own farm, and in this way I get a very
rich and active manure. I get available nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and
potash, at far cheaper rates than they can be purchased in the best
commercial fertilizers.
Pigs void a large amount of urine, and as pigs are ordinarily kept, much
of this liquid is lost for want of sufficient bedding to absorb it. With
the market-gardener or nurseryman, who draws large quantities of
horse-manure from the city, this need not be the case. The necessary
buildings can be constructed at little cost, and the horse-manure can be
used freely. The pigs should be fed on food rich in nitrogen, such as
bran, malt-combs, brewers’ grains, the refuse animal matter from the
slaughter-houses or butchers’ stores, fish scrap, pea or lentil-meal,
palm-nut cake, or such food as will furnish the most nitrogenous food,
other things being equal, at the cheapest rate.
The market-gardener not only requires large quantities of rich manure,
but he wants them to act quickly. The nurseryman who sets out a block of
trees which will occupy the ground for three, four, or five years, may
want a “lasting manure,” but such is not the case with the gardener who
grows crops which he takes off the land in a few months. As long as he
continues to use horse or cow-manure freely, he need not trouble himself
to get a slow or lasting manure. His great aim should be to make the
manure as active and available as possible. And this is especially the
case if he occupies clayey or loamy land. On sandy land the manure will
decompose more rapidly and act quicker.
“There are many facts,” said the Doctor, “that show that an artificial
application of water is equivalent to an application of manure. It has
been shown that market-gardeners find it necessary to apply a much
larger amount of plant-food to the soil than the crops can take up. This
they have to do year after year. And it may well be that, when a supply
of water can be had at slight cost, it will be cheaper to irrigate the
land, or water the plants, rather than to furnish such an excess of
manure, as is now found necessary. Even with ordinary farm-crops, we
know that they feel the effects of drouth far less on rich land than on
poor land. In other words, a liberal supply of plant-food enables the
crops to flourish with less water; and, on the other hand, a greater
supply of water will enable the crops to flourish with a less supply of
plant-food. The market-gardeners should look into this question of
irrigation.”
MANURES FOR SEED-GROWING FARMS.
In growing garden and vegetable seeds, much labor is necessarily
employed per acre, and consequently it is of great importance to produce
a good yield. The best and cleanest land is necessary to start with, and
then manures must be appropriately and freely used.
“But not too freely,” said the Doctor, “for I am told it is quite
possible to have land too rich for seed-growing.”
It is not often that the land is too rich. Still, it may well be that
for some crops too much stable-manure is used. But in nine cases out of
ten, when such manure gives too much growth and too little or too poor
seed, the trouble is in the quality of the manure. It contains too much
carbonaceous matter. In other words, it is so poor in nitrogen and
phosphoric acid, that an excessive quantity has to be used.
The remedy consists in making richer manures and using a less quantity,
or use half the quantity of stable-manure, and apply the rectified or
prepared Peruvian guano, at the rate of 300 lbs. or 400 lbs. per acre,
or say 200 lbs. superphosphate and 200 lbs. nitrate of soda per acre.
Where it is very important to have the seeds ripen early, a liberal
dressing, say 400 lbs. per acre, of superphosphate of lime, will be
likely to prove beneficial.
MANURE FOR PRIVATE GARDENS.
I once had a small garden in the city, and having no manure, I depended
entirely on thorough cultivation and artificial fertilizers, such as
superphosphate and sulphate of ammonia. It was cultivated not for
profit, but for pleasure, but I never saw a more productive piece of
land. I had in almost every case two crops a year on the same land, and
on some plots three crops. No manure was used, except the superphosphate
and sulphate of ammonia, and coal and wood ashes from the house.
About 5 lbs. of sulphate of ammonia was sown broadcast to the square
rod, or worked into the soil very thoroughly in the rows where the seed
was to be sown. Superphosphate was applied at the same rate, but instead
of sowing it broadcast, I aimed to get it as near the seed or the roots
of plants as possible.
Half a teaspoonful of the mixture, consisting of equal parts of
superphosphate and sulphate of ammonia, stirred into a large three
gallon can of water, and sprinkled on to a bed of verbenas, seemed to
have a remarkable effect on the size and brilliancy of the flowers.
Even to this day, although I have a good supply of rich barnyard-manure,
I do not like to be without some good artificial manure for the garden.
MANURE FOR HOT-BEDS.
The best manure for hot-beds is horse or sheep-dung that has been used
as bedding for pigs.
When fresh stable-manure is used, great pains should be taken to save
all the urine. In other words, you want the horse-dung thoroughly
saturated with urine.
The heat is produced principally from the carbon in the manure and
straw, but you need active nitrogenous matter to start the fire. And the
richer the manure is in nitrogenous matter, and the more thoroughly this
is distributed through the manure, the more readily will it ferment.
There is also another advantage in having rich manure, or manure well
saturated with urine. You can make the heap more compact. Poor manure
has to be made in a loose heap, or it will not ferment; but such manure
as we are talking about can be trodden down quite firm, and still
ferment rapid enough to give out the necessary heat, and this compact
heap will continue to ferment longer and give out a steadier heat, than
the loose heap of poor manure.
MANURE FOR NURSERYMEN.
Our successful nurserymen purchase large quantities of stable and other
manures from the cities, drawing it as fast as it is made, and putting
it in piles until wanted. They usually turn the piles once or twice, and
often three times. This favors fermentation, greatly reducing it in
bulk, and rendering the manure much more soluble and active. It also
makes the manure in the heap more uniform in quality.
Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry tell me that they often ferment the manure
that they draw from the stables in the city, and make it so fine and
rich, that they get but one load of rotted manure from three loads as
drawn from the stables. For some crops, they use at least 20 loads of
this rotted manure per acre, and they estimate that each load of this
rotted manure costs at least $5.00.
H. E. Hooker places the cost of manure equally high, but seems willing
to use all he can get, and does not think we can profitably employ
artificial manures as a substitute.
In this I agree with him. But while I should not expect artificial
manures, when used alone, to prove as cheap or as valuable as
stable-manure at present prices, I think it may well be that a little
nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, and superphosphate of lime, or
dissolved Peruvian guano, might be used as an _auxiliary_ manure to
great advantage.
Mr. H. E. Hooker, once sowed, at my suggestion, some sulphate of ammonia
and superphosphate on part of a block of nursery trees, and he could not
perceive that these manures did any good. Ellwanger & Barry also tried
them, and reported the same negative result. This was several years ago,
and I do not think any similar experiments have been made since.
“And yet,” said the Deacon, “you used these self same manures on
farm-crops, and they greatly increased the growth.”
“There are several reasons,” said the Doctor, “why these manures may
have failed to produce any marked effect on the nursery trees. In the
first place, there was considerable prejudice against them, and the
nurserymen would hardly feel like relying on these manures alone. They
probably sowed them on land already well manured; and I think they sowed
them too late in the season. I should like to see them fairly tried.”
So would I. It seems to me that nitrate of soda, and superphosphate, or
dissolved Peruvian guano, could be used with very great advantage and
profit by the nurserymen. Of course, it would hardly be safe to depend
upon them alone. They should be used either in connection with
stable-manure, or on land that had previously been frequently dressed
with stable-manure.
MANURE FOR FRUIT-GROWERS.
How to keep up the fertility of our apple-orchards, is becoming an
important question, and is attracting considerable attention.
There are two methods generally recommended--I dare not say generally
practised. The one, is to keep the orchard in bare-fallow; the other, to
keep it in grass, and top-dress with manure, and either eat the grass
off on the land with sheep and pigs, or else mow it frequently, and let
the grass rot on the surface, for mulch and manure.
“You are speaking now,” said the Deacon, “of bearing apple-orchards. No
one recommends keeping a young orchard in grass. We all know that young
apple trees do far better when the land is occupied with corn, potatoes,
beans, or some other crop, which can be cultivated, than they do on land
occupied with wheat, barley, oats, rye, buckwheat, or grass and clover.
And even with bearing peach trees, I have seen a wonderful difference in
an orchard, half of which was cultivated with corn, and the other half
sown with wheat. The trees in the wheat were sickly-looking, and bore a
small crop of inferior fruit, while the trees in the corn, grew
vigorously and bore a fine crop of fruit. And the increased value of the
crop of peaches on the cultivated land was far more than we can ever
hope to get from a crop of wheat.”
“And yet,” said the Doctor, “the crop of corn on the cultivated half of
the peach-orchard removed far more plant-food from the soil, than the
crop of wheat. And so it is evident that the difference is not due
wholly to the supply of manure in the surface-soil. It may well be that
the cultivation which the corn received favored the decomposition of
organic matter in the soil, and the formation of nitrates, and when the
rain came, it would penetrate deeper into the loose soil than on the
adjoining land occupied with wheat. The rain would carry the nitrogen
down to the roots of the peach trees, and this will account for the dark
green color of the leaves on the cultivated land, and the yellow,
sickly-looking leaves on the trees among the wheat.”
HEN-MANURE, AND WHAT TO DO WITH IT.
A bushel of corn fed to a hen would give no more nitrogen, phosphoric
acid, and potash, in the shape of manure, than a bushel of corn fed to a
pig. The manure from the pig, however, taking the urine and solid
excrement together, contain 82 per cent of water, while that from the
hen contains only 56 per cent of water. Moreover, hens pick up worms and
insects, and their food in such case would contain more nitrogen than
the usual food of pigs, and the manure would be correspondingly richer
in nitrogen. Hence it happens that 100 lbs. of _dry_ hen-manure would
usually be richer in nitrogen than 100 lbs. of _dry_ pig-manure. But
feed pigs on peas, and hens on corn, and the dry pig-manure would be
much richer in nitrogen than the dry hen-manure. The value of the
manure, other things being equal, depends on the food and not on the
animal.
Let no man think he is going to make his farm any richer by keeping
hens, ducks, and geese, than he will by keeping sheep, pigs, and horses.
“Why is it, then,” asked the Deacon, “that hen-dung proves such a
valuable manure. I would rather have a hundred lbs. of hen-dung than
half a ton of barnyard-manure?”
“And I presume you are right,” said I, “but you must recollect that your
hen-manure is kept until it is almost chemically dry. Let us figure up
what the half ton of manure and the 100 lbs. of hen-manure would
contain. Here are the figures, side by side:
--------------------------+---------------+-------------
| _100 lbs. dry | _Half ton
| Hen-Manure._ | Cow-Dung
| | with straw._
--------------------------+---------------+-------------
Water (estimated) | 12 lbs. | 775 lbs.
Organic Matter | 51 ” | 203 ”
Ash | 37 ” | 22 ”
+---------------+-------------
Nitrogen | 3¼ ” | 3⅖ ”
Potash | 1¾ ” | 4 ”
Lime | 4¾ ” | 3 ”
Phosphoric acid | 3 ” | 1½ ”
--------------------------+---------------+-------------
I would, myself, far rather have 100 lbs. of your dry hen-manure than
half a ton of your farmyard-manure. Your hens are fed on richer food
than your cows. The 100 lbs. of hen-manure, too, would act much more
rapidly than the half ton of cow-manure. It would probably do twice as
much good--possibly three or four times as much good, on the first crop,
as the cow-manure. The nitrogen, being obtained from richer and more
digestible food, is in a much more active and available condition than
the nitrogen in the cow-dung.
“If you go on,” said the Deacon, “I think you will prove that I am
right.”
“I have never doubted,” said I, “the great value of hen-dung, as
compared with barnyard-manure. And all I wish to show is, that,
notwithstanding its acknowledged value, the fact remains that a given
quantity of the same kind of food will give no greater amount of
fertilizing matter when fed to a hen than if fed to a pig.”
I want those farmers who find so much benefit from an application of
hen-manure, ashes, and plaster, to their corn and potatoes, to feel that
if they would keep better cows, sheep, and pigs, and feed them better,
they would get good pay for their feed, and the manure would enable them
to grow larger crops.
While we have been talking, the Deacon was looking over the tables. (See
Appendix.) “I see,” said he, “that wheat and rye contain more nitrogen
than hen-manure, but less potash and phosphoric acid.”
“This is true,” said I, “but the way to compare them, in order to see
the effect of passing the wheat through the hen, is to look at the
composition of the air-dried hen-dung. The fresh hen-dung, according to
the table, contains 56 per cent of water, while wheat contains less than
14½ per cent.”
Let us compare the composition of 1,000 lbs. air-dried hen-dung with
1,000 lbs. of air-dried wheat and rye, and also with bran, malt-combs,
etc.
_Phosphoric
_Nitrogen._ _Potash._ Acid._
Wheat 20.8 5.3 7.9
Wheat Bran 22.4 14.3 27.3
Rye 17.6 5.6 8.4
Rye Bran 23.2 19.3 34.3
Buckwheat 14.4 2.7 5.7
Buckwheat Bran 27.2 11.2 12.5
Malt-roots 36.8 20.6 18.0
Air-dry Hen-dung. 32.6 17.0 30.8
“That table,” said the Doctor, “is well worth studying. You see, that
when wheat is put through the process of milling, the miller takes out
as much of the starch and gluten as he wants, and leaves you a product
(bran), richer in phosphoric acid, potash, and nitrogen, than you gave
him.”
“And the same is true,” continued the Doctor, “of the hen. You gave her
2,000 grains of wheat, containing 41.6 grains of nitrogen. She puts this
through the mill, together with some ashes, and bones, that she picks
up, and she takes out all the starch and fat, and nitrogen, and
phosphate of lime, that she needs to sustain life, and to produce flesh,
bones, feathers, and eggs, and leaves you 1,000 grains of manure
containing 32.6 grains of nitrogen, 17.0 grains of potash, and 30.8
grains of phosphoric acid. I do not say,” continued the Doctor, “that it
takes exactly 2,000 grains of wheat to make 1,000 grains of dry manure.
I merely give these figures to enable the Deacon to understand why 1,000
lbs. of hen-dung is worth more for manure than 1,000 lbs. of wheat.”
“I must admit,” said the Deacon, “that I always have been troubled to
understand why wheat-bran was worth more for manure than the wheat
itself, I see now--it is because there is less of it. It is for the same
reason that boiled cider is richer than the cider from which it is made.
The cider has lost water, and the bran has lost starch. What is left is
richer in nitrogen, and potash, and phosphoric acid. And so it is with
manure. The animals take out of the food the starch and fat, and leave
the manure richer in nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash.”
“Exactly,” said I, “Mr. Lawes found by actual experiment, that if you
feed 500 lbs. of barley-meal to a pig, containing 420 lbs. of _dry
substance_, you get only 70 lbs. of dry substance in the manure. Of the
420 lbs. of dry substance, 276.2 lbs. are used to support respiration,
etc.; 73.8 lbs. are found in the increase of the pig, and 70 lbs. in the
manure.”
The food contains 52 lbs. of nitrogenous matter; the increase of pig
contains 7 lbs., and consequently, if there is no loss, the manure
should contain 45 lbs. of nitrogenous substance = to 7.14 lbs. of
nitrogen.
“In other words,” said the Doctor, “the 70 lbs. of _dry_ liquid and
solid pig-manure contains 7.14 lbs. of nitrogen, or 100 lbs. would
contain 10.2 lbs. of nitrogen, which is more nitrogen than we now get in
the very best samples of Peruvian guano.”
“And thus it will be seen,” said I, “that though corn-fed pigs, leaving
out the bedding and water, produce a very small quantity of manure, it
is exceedingly rich.”
The table from which these facts were obtained, will be found in the
Appendix--pages 342-3.