A large Iicap has been entirely destroyed in less than two years, nothing remaining hnt
a little black fibrous matter. Some of the firmest part of a Fucus was suffered to remain
in a close jm-, containing atmospheric air, for a fortnight: iu this time it had become very
much shrivelled; the sides of the jiu* -were lined ivith dew. The air examined was found
to hai'e lost oxygen, and to contain carbonic acid gas. Sca-wced is generally used as
fresh as it can be procured, hut it is sometimes used with very great advantage as litter
in the farm-yard, forming excellent manure with the dung of the cattle.
1266. Inert peaty maitcr, tanners’ spent bark, shavings o f wood, and saw-dust, thougli
they consist almost entirely of woody fibre, arc of very little use as manures, unless they
are mixed with lime or some other alkali which will render the humus which they form
soluble in water. Tanners’ bark, decaying slowly, and evolving considerable heat
during the process, is useful as a hotbed.
1267. Wood ashes, containing as they do aU the saline and eartliy matters which were
found in the plants, are extremely valuahlc as manure.
1268. Yeast is one of the most powci-ful and durable of all manures. It may ho applied
to every description of crop, either of the farmer or the gardener, and aU fruits and
flowers which will hear manuring with fermented putrescent matter will equally bear
yeast. Unfortunately the article is too expensive to he much used as a hianurc; hut it
will well pay for a trial on auriculas and fine plants. Tliis ivc can assert from our own
experience. The effect on the foliage of both is the production of a very vivid green.
1269. Manures from animal substances, in general, requfre no chemical preparation to
fit them for tlie soil. The great object is to blend them with the earthy constituents in
a proper state of division, and to prevent thcir too rapid decomposition.
1270. The entire parts ofthe muscles o f land animals are not commonly used as manure,
though there are many cases in which such an application might be easily made. liorses,
dogs, sheep, deer, and other quadrupeds that have died accidentally or of disease, after
thcir skins ave separated, arc often suffered to remain exposed to the air, or immersed in
water till they are destroyed by birds or beasts of prey, or entirely decomposed ; and, in
this case, most of their organised matter is lost to the land in which they lie, and a considerable
portion of it employed in giving off noxious gases to the atmosphere. By
covering dead animals witli five or six times thcir bulk of soil, mixed with one part of
lime, and suftcriug them to remain for a few months, their decomposition would impregnate
the soil with soluble matter, so as to render it an excellent manure ; aud by
mixing fresh burnt charcoal with it at the time of its removal, the disagreeable effluvia
would be in a great measure destroyed, and it miglit bo applied to crops in the samo
way as any other manure.
1271. Fish forms a powerful manure, in whatci'cr state it is applied ; but it cannot
be used too fresh, though the quantity should be limited. A. Young records au experiment,
in which herrings spread over a field, and ploughed in for wheat, produced
so rank a crop, that it was entirely laid before harvest. The refuse pilchards in Coni-
wail are used throughout the country as a manure, with excellent effects. They arc
usually mixed with sand or soil, and sometimes with sea weed, to prevent them from
raising too luxuriant a crop. The effects are perceived for several years. In the fens
of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk, the little fishes called sticklebacks are
caught iu the shallow waters in such quantities, that they fonn a great article of manure
ill the land bordering on the fens. It is easy to explain the operation of fish as a
manure. The skin is principally gelatine, which, from its slight state of cohesion, is
readily soluble in water ; fat or oil is always found in fishes, cither under the skin or in
some of the viscera ; and thcir fibrous matter contains all the essential elements of
vegetable substances. In fact, the wholc body consists of tliose substances which constitute
the food of plants; prone to decompose, and rapidly changing into those compounds
which arc most easily absorbed and assimilated by plants.
1272. Amongst oily substances, blubber has been employed as a manure. I t is most
useful when mixed with clay, sand, or any common soil, so as to expose a large surface
to the air, tho oxygen of which produces soluble matter from it. The carbon and
hydrogen abounding in oily substances fully account for thcir efiects ; aud thcir durability
is easily explained from the gradual manner in which they change by tho action
of air and water.
1273. Bones are much used as a manure in various parts of England, and especially
in tho midland counties. They arc also used in Scotland wherever they can be
got, and a knowledge of their great value is spreading rapidly over the Continent. They
should not be used tül they have been broken and laid in heaps to fcnnent. The more
divided they arc, tbe more powerful ai-c thcir effects. The expense of grinding them
in a mill is amply repaid by the increase of their fertilising powers. Bone-dust and
bone shavings, the refuse of the turning manufacture, may also be advantageously employed.
The basis of bone is constituted by earthy salts, principally phosphate of lime, with some
carbonate of lime and phosiiliatc of magnesia ; the auimtd matter in bones consists of
fat, gelatine, and eartilago, which seems nf .
by far the most valuable properties of b oL s T l Z Z Z
? c o rd in g to the analysis of Foureror Z v T r “ ‘"«''a* “ astituents.
deoomposablo animal matter 51, phosphate of l i r é Z Z ? ’ «re composed of
pinate of magnesia 1-3 ; total 100 f but a c c o rd in g f«- Pb°sabout
38 per cent, of animal matters, ’aZ i the fest contain only
phosphate of hme, carbonate of lime flu a teZf ! 1 ®“ fr"ance is composed of
rannate of soda. Their principal i Z ’cdients h o i e Z ’ ™ ? “ fr" « n d Z little
lime, the fonner, perhaps, being the most use&l o ta ll L l t Z P“ " * * “ « "«* carbonate of
r r ” X ' W t o s i i s i S V . r ? ? » - —
common nse. The animal matter in ttam s Z L t Z L " '’“ fra " ‘o be in
a Immcn, and it is slowly rendered s o b ib lL ^ th eZ c tfo nL f w L “ " L Z “ «“ 8'“*"«“
ni horn, and still more that in bones forms thè m L Z l ? ■*'*“ “ «“ cr
ami renders it very durable in its effects. valuable portion of the manure,
raamires ; suchLs c L i e è ¥ t e r iL g s ? f o i t e è “ ta ^ f“ ™® very useful
and of the glue-maniifaetoiy. The gelatine co n tZ è rl ? offals of the tan-yards
fitted for Its gradual solution or decomposition • and wbeftT'*'' m* “Í
fibrin, a peculiré r e ° d L X u i t a L m S è f f Z L T bolding in solution albumen,
elilorides of sodium and potasfium c Z t o L t L J L T ' “ r é® ? " ®"b®‘a«ccs, ineludinré
hme, and magnesia, and also a portion of iron ” ( A r f Z ? » ? 7 ij,“ ® ? a ‘cs of potash, soda.
Blood IS a very powerful manure on account of thè Chmistnj. 2nd ed., p. 124.)
winch It contains. The scum taken f t a Z L e b o te s è f T ” ' T f " * ' " ' ‘Y raattcr!
as manure, principally consists of bidlocks’ h w T ? ra 1 1 “ ® ' f ' ' ’'‘'«fr >® "®cd
purpose of separating ihe impurities ? »««" «'"Plojcd for the
T a f v ’* 77 boat of the boiler. ‘“ ft coagidast.
aiiocs'of L i .L T Z | i , r " 7 è o Z t e Z r a t e ^ ^ “ 'tapoapcs must be considered as sub-
snbstanoes contain considerable quantities 0^ 7 7 , ' ’ “ “frPft"'® «*> f*»®«
the sponges afford likewise gelatine AccSdiè? t 1? “ agnlatcd albumen;
equal parts of animal m a t to a n c a r t ? T ? H "'*'¡‘0 coral contain
and 63-5 of carbonate of ^ « " “ «1 matter,
c.arbonate of lime. These substances a r iLevei L S ' m“„ «"<1 49 of
in cases when they are accidentally mixed with sZ Z ré .'".fr"® countiy, except
corallines might bo advantageously employed as tl iZ 'è Z ' * f - P'obablc that (he
on the rocks, and bottoms o fth e rockv noofr mi l í ? considerable quantity
gradually declines towards the sea ■ aTid th Z è iS h t hT T è ° f our coast, where the land
Without much trouble. On manv nai-ts of V Iwes, and collected
deposited by the sea, and are applied with great a L L t o Z I ’ Tl™“ ' f " “®
and m improving the mechaniell texture of the c u t ?ik®LiT ,i" - “ ®"''®“ ''fo brae
nature of which is best understood Th - t """
o.xpenments of Brando i water 66 ; phosLatT of 1 L e 3 Z “ ré “ «'c
moma 15 ; sulplnate of potassa 6 ; k rb o n è to noL ré - ) ' ’” ‘“ ®'‘
1279. r/ie arme of the horse aeeoè.iréré ; ’ f " ''" '" '''a 4 ; urea 4.
bonate of lime 11 , carbonate o f ’soda 9 b o L o a t e Z s t a i contains of carwater
and mucilage 940 In addition tn tone i oi potassa 9, urea 7
of limo. Tho u r iL ofLho L L t L L ,, c “ "ré ' “ fr“ “®*’" " «
cnt experiments, and thefr constitution has bceL f L L ’ èZ fl " t T ‘‘‘ft‘* ‘“ fr*®'''
rabbit, in addition to most of tho ino-redients ahnréréí, , of the
gelatine ; .and the same chemist discovra-cd uric acid inréhè l'ré’f r T " ’® '"'” ' fr«‘oo'cfr
fowls. “ Guano, the oxcremc.it of soa-fowl H W ré I of domestic
tbis .salt.” Ilmnan urine contarés a L t e e L v L L L T T r é Pft'fr” " “f
apoces examined. Urea, uric acid a.ffl a L t w T''^ i ■ , "ft"‘® f r '" ' other
ro sa io acid, acetic acid, albumen, gdrérée a ‘ ™bofr
' " 'b The hmnan "'^"0 fr»brs iif c o m L ^ T L r é r é »
■tè
r l