Talks on Manures A Series of Familiar and Practical Talks Between the Author and the Deacon, the Doctor, and Other Neighbors, on the Whole Subject

I hardly know how to commence an account of the wonderful experiments made at Rothamsted, England, by John Bennett Lawes, Esq., and Dr. Joseph H. Gilbert. Mr. Lawes’ first syste...

A relation of mine, who already possessed a very considerable estate, consisting of light land, about twenty years ago purchased a large property adjoining it at a very high pri...

Messrs. Lawes and Gilbert have published the results of experiments with different manures on barley grown annually on the same land for twenty years in succession. The experime...

“That is so,” said I, “and the better you feed your horses and pigs, the better will the manure be for hops. In England, Mr. Paine, of Surrey, made a series of experiments with...

“The soils for the next experiments, were kindly supplied to me, in 1866, by Robert Valentine, of Burcott Lodge, who also sent me some notes respecting the growth and yield of c...

When butter alone is sold, there ought to be no loss of fertilizing matter--as pure butter or oil contains no nitrogen, phosphoric acid, or potash. It contains nothing but carbo...

Restoring Fertility to the Soil, a Chapter by Sir John Bennet Lawes.-- The Treatment of a Poor Farm, to Restore it most Profitably.-- Meat-making the Back-bone of the System.--...

These careful, systematic, and long-continued experiments of Lawes and Gilbert seem to prove that if you have a piece of land well prepared for wheat, which will produce, withou...

In the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, for 1868, Dr. Vœlcker, the able chemist of the Society, and formerly Professor of Agricultural Chemistry, at the Roy...

“It will do more good if fermented,” said a German farmer in the neighborhood, who is noted for raising good crops of cabbage, “but I like hog-manure better than cow-dung. The r...

One of the charms and the advantages of agriculture is that a farmer must think for himself. He should study principles, and apply them in practice, as best suits his circumstan...

Dr. Vœlcker, at the same time he made the experiments alluded to in the preceding chapter, placed another heap of manure _under cover_, in a shed. It was the same kind of manure...

“I am surprised to find,” said the Deacon, “that Mr. Harison, living as he does in the great grass and dairy district of this State, should raise so much grain. He has nearly as...

“Farming is a poor business,” said the Deacon. “Take the corn crop. Thirty bushels per acre is a fair average, worth, at 75 cents per bushel, $22.50. If we reckon that, for each...

“There are many ways of doing this. But as you only enter on the farm this spring, you will work to disadvantage. To obtain the best results, it is necessary to prepare for the...

I do not know who first said, “The cheapest manure a farmer can use is--clover-seed,” but the saying has become part of our agricultural literature, and deserves a passing remark.

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 eno...

However much farmers may differ in regard to the advantages or disadvantages of fermenting manure, I have never met with one who contended that it was good, either in theory or...

One of the oldest and most successful farmers, in the State of New York, is John Johnston, of Geneva. He has a farm on the borders of Seneca Lake. It is high, rolling land, but...

Analyses of many of the leading commercial fertilizers at that time showed that, when judged by this standard, the price charged was far above their actual value. In some cases,...

“I do not know what you mean by natural manure,” said the Deacon, “unless it is the droppings of animals.” --“To distinguish them, I suppose,” said the Doctor, “from artificial...

Dr. Vœlcker placed 2,838 lbs. of fresh mixed manure in a heap Nov. 3, 1854, and the next spring, April 30, it weighed 2,026 lbs., a shrinkage in weight of 28.6 per cent. In othe...

The following table was prepared by Dr. J. B. Lawes, of Rothamsted, England, and was first published in this country in the “Genesee Farmer,” for May, 1860. Since then, it has b...

Bone-dust is often spoken of as a phosphatic manure, and it has been supposed that the astonishing effect bone-dust sometimes produces on old pasture-land, is due to its furnish...

“It will not do any harm on any crop,” said the Deacon, “but on my farm it seems to be most convenient to draw it out in the winter or spring, and plow it under for corn. I do n...

I have never yet seen a “worn-out” or “exhausted farm.” I know many farms that are “run down.” I bought just such a farm a dozen or more years ago, and I have been trying hard,...

Twenty five to thirty years ago, much was said in regard to special manures. Fertilizers were prepared for the different crops with special reference to the composition of the p...

Charley got the second volume of “Morton’s Cyclopædia of Agriculture,” from the book shelves, and turned to the article on “Manure.” He found that Mr. Lawrence adopted the “Box...

This is not the place to discuss the merits, or demerits, of fallowing. But an intelligent Ohio farmer writes me: --“I see that you recommend fallow plowing, what are your reaso...

In this country, where labor is comparatively high, and hay often commands a good price, a good, permanent meadow frequently affords as much real profit as any other portion of...

“What is the use of talking about manure for oats,” said the Deacon, “if land is not rich enough to produce oats without manure, it certainly will not pay to manure them. We can...

The manure from horses is generally considered richer and better than that from cows. This is not always the case, though it is probably so as a rule. There are three principal...

“The Doctor is in the main correct,” said I; “but he does not fully answer the question, ‘What is manure?’ To say that manure is plant-food, does not cover the whole ground. All...

“If,” said I, “you should put a ton of cut straw in a heap, wet it, and let it rot down into manure; and should place in another heap a ton of cut corn-fodder, and in another he...

“That is not a bad definition,” said I; “but let us see if it is a true one. You have two rows of cabbage in the garden, and you water one row, and the plants grow bigger and be...

“What you should do,” said the Doctor, “is to commence at the creek, and straighten it. Take a gang of men, and be with them with yourself, or get a good foreman to direct opera...

There is one thing in these experiments of Dr. Vœlcker’s which deserves special attention, and that is the comparatively large amount of _soluble phosphate of lime_ in the ash o...

If we have the necessary materials, it is not a difficult matter to make manure; in fact, the manure will make itself. We sometimes need to hasten the process, and to see that n...

“Well,” said the Deacon, “I do not know much about plant-food, and nitrogen, and phosphoric acid, but I think manure is a good thing, and the more you have of it the better. I d...

The Doctor has been invited to deliver a lecture on manure before our local Farmers’ Club. “The etymological meaning of the word manure,” he said, “is _hand labor_, from _main_,...

“It is a term,” said the Doctor, “we used to hear much more frequently than we do now. Ammonia is composed of 14 lbs. of nitrogen and 3 lbs. of hydrogen; and if, on analysis, a...

The Author’s Plan of Managing Manure.-- Piles as fast as it is Made.-- What it is Made of.-- Horse and Cow Manure Together.-- Horse Manure for Bedding Pigs.-- To Prevent Freezin...

Management Continued.-- Why We Ferment Manure.-- Dr. Vœlcker’s Experiments showing the Loss when Manure is spread in Yards.-- Fermenting adds Nothing to Manure, but makes it mor...

How John Johnston Manages His Manure. Summer-fallows for Wheat.-- Does not plow under Clover.-- Value of Manure from different foods.-- Piling Manure.-- Applies Manure to Grass-...

Experiments on Clover Soils from Burcott Lodge Farm, Leighton Buzzard.-- Soil from Part of 11-acre Field twice Mown for Hay.-- Soil from do. once Mown for Hay and left for Seed....

Manures for Barley.-- Composition of Barley, grain and straw.-- Valuable Tables giving the Results of Lawes and Gilbert’s Experiments on the growth of Barley, Year after Year, o...

Foods which Make Rich Manure.-- Table giving the composition of 31 kinds of Food and the value of the Manure they yield.-- Cotton-seed Cake.-- English and German Clover.-- Nitro...

Manure on Dairy Farms.-- Wheat removes much more Nitrogen than Cheese.-- Manures for Dairy Farms.-- Letter from Hon. Harris Lewis.-- How to make more and better Manure on Dairy...

Lawes and Gilbert’s Experiments on Wheat.-- Most Valuable and Instructive Tables now first made accessible to the American Farmer.-- The growth of Wheat Year after Year on the s...

Dr. Vœlcker’s Experiments on Clover.-- Lawes and Gilbert’s on Wheat.-- Clover Roots per Acre.-- Manures for Wheat.-- Liebig’s Manure Theory.-- Peruvian Guano on Wheat.-- Manures...

Horse-manure and Farm-yard Manure.-- Why the one is richer than the other.-- Amount of Manure from a Horse.-- Composition of Farm-yard Manure.-- We draw and spread a ton to get...

Management of Manures on Grain Farms.-- Letter from Hon. Geo. Geddes.-- Grain on Dairy Farms.-- Sheep on Grain Farms.-- Visit to John Johnston.-- Mr. Lawes’ Wheat-field.-- Mr. G...

How to Restore a Worn-out Farm.-- The Author’s Farm.-- Tillage renders the Plant-food stored in the soil available.-- Cultivated Lands contain less Plant-food, but are more prod...

Fermenting Manure.-- Composition of Manure when Fresh and in its stages of Fermentation.-- Loss in Fermentation and from Leaching.-- Tables showing the composition of Manure at...

Farming as a Business.-- High Farming and Good Farming.-- Summer-fallowing and Plowing under Clover.-- We must raise larger Crops per Acre.-- Destruction of Weeds.-- Farming is...

Keeping Manure under Cover.-- Dr. Vœlcker’s Experiments.-- Manure Fermented Outside and Under Cover.-- Loss from keeping Manure spread in the Barn-yard.-- Keeping well-rotted Ma...

Natural Manure.-- Accumulated Plant-food in the Soil.-- Exhaustion of the Soil.-- Why our Crops are so Poor.-- How to get Larger Crops.-- We must Drain, Cultivate thoroughly, an...

The Cheapest Manure a Farmer can use.-- Clover vs. Tillage.-- As Plant-Food.-- Constituents of a Crop of Clover, as compared with one of Wheat.-- Making a Farm Rich by Growing C...