The number of fixed stars visible to the naked eye, in either hemisphere, is not more than a thousand. In a clear winter night they appear innumerabe. The illusion ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MANURES. (CONTINUED.) So slow The growth of what is excellent, so hard THE barn-yard, as described in the preceding chapter, might be a receptacle for everything of the animal and vegetable kind possessing fertilizing properties. For substances found in small quantity this is doubtless the best place; of this class may be named the refuse of the shambles, consisting of blood, hair, and filth of every description. Of course, animals that die of disease may be mixed up or buried in loam, to be used as manure. The offal of tan-yards is of the character. So are the shavings and clippings of horn, to be had of comb-makers. So are the hair and wool of animals, wherever found. So are woolen rags, feathers, old hats, old shoes and boots, fragments of leather, and the refuse of a tallow-chandler establishment. Whatever of the above is to be obtained, should be collected, and with other waste substances carried to the barn-yard, and converted into manure. The quantity of either may appear small, and scarcely worth regard; but it will be found that the aggregate in a year would be no contemptible mass. It is by attending to such small things, that the agriculturist, as well as the man of business, becomes prosperous. There are, however, other animal and vegetable substances, most valuable for manures, obtained in larger amounts, and deserve more particular notice. present chapter is devoted to them, under distinct heads. The The dung of poultry will be first considered. Most farmers may not keep enough to render it an object to provide poultry houses, with conveniences to save their excrements. It is believed, nevertheless, that the subject is of more importance than generally supposed. If the quantity obtained is small, it is powerful enough, as a fertilizer, to merit attention. The author has been able to collect from twenty to thirty bushels annually, without any particular effort. This he has used in his garden for onions, melons, carrots, and, indeed, for whatever grows in a garden; and the increase of his crops has been a sufficient remuneration for the trouble. This last year he mixed it with other substances for a compost, which will be more particularly Never put off till to-morrow what can be done to-day. is owing to their twinkling light. But by the aid of telescopes we are enabled to discover myriads of them. The body which weighs one pound at the surface of the earth, at the centre of the earth is without weight; at 1000 378 miles from the centre, its weight is one-fourth of a pound; ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MANURES. described in another place. It is desirable, especially if an immediate result is expected, that it should be reduced to as small particles as possible. If it is cast upon the soil, or buried up in it, in large lumps, it requires a long period for an entire disintegration of its parts, so as to yield nutriment to the plant; and immediately in the vicinity of the deposit, it may be too powerful for the purpose intended. If what is termed guano is of value to justify the prices paid for it, the inference is very fair, that a kindred article, to be had on our own premises without money or price, save the labor of collecting it, should not be despised. Guano is the excrements of sea-fowls, and is an earthy sub- On Fish as a Manure.-On the sea-coast, and in some instances at the mouth of large rivers, fish are used as a manure. the shores of the Elbe, occasionally immense quantities of herrings are caught and thus used. The most common way is to spread the fish, and in a few days to plough them under. But the better mode is to cover them with quicklime, and subsequently to mix them with earth. In a short period they are decomposed. Or they may be strewed in layers on compost beds, with peat, ashes, slacked lime, charcoal, and vegetable matters. It becomes a powerful fertilizer. In the districts where fish are so easily obtained as to be used for this purpose, the mode of doing it has become so well understood by practical farmers, as to render any further account of it altogether Bones as a Manure.-Bones are becoming a common fertilizer. They may be broken into small pieces, and spread upon compost heaps; or they may be buried about the roots of grapevines, thus rendering the soil loose, and yielding to the plant a rich oleaginous nourishment. All farmers may do this. But the best mode of using them, is when reduced to powder. For Never trouble others with what you can do yourself. unnecessary. at 2000 miles from the centre, one half a pound; and at 8000 miles from the centre, three-fourths of a pound. Wind is the atmosphere in motion, Its velocity, in a small breeze, is about four miles an hour; in a fresh gale, twenty or thirty miles an hour; in a violent ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE MANURES. 379 this purpose there are mills, particularly in the neighborhood of large cities, where they can be easily obtained. Sometimes, instead of being ground to fine powder, they are broken into pieces of an inch or less in length. Ground bones are sold at prices from thirty to forty cents a bushel. From ten to twenty bushels of the dust to the acre are applied. All lands are much improved by such a dressing; but the effects on sandy and light soils are sometimes most extraordinary. One bushel is said to be equal to three cart-loads of barn-yard manure. It should not be buried deep in the soil, for its natural tendency is to sink; and being slowly dissolved by the rain, care should be exercised not to place it beyond the reach of the roots to be nourished by it. The value of bone-dust arises from the fact that all seeds contain a large quantity in their ashes, and the soil is naturally not well supplied. Seed crops are well known to exhaust lands rapidly, and chiefly because they remove the bone earth or phosphates of the soil. Night soil, or human excrements, is known to make a very active manure. It differs essentially in composition from the excrements of domesticated animals. Its own quality probably varies according to the food from which it is produced. It is an undeniable fact, the excrements voided by human beings who live chiefly on animal food, are much more active and efficient as manure than those which proceed from persons whose diet is principally composed of vegetables. Those who know how to turn these fecal matters to the greatest possible account, and can surmount the disgust which the use of them occasions, prefer them to all other kinds of manure. It has been asserted that the excrements of a man are capable of producing a quantity of vegetable matter sufficient for his own support; but if this assertion is an exaggeration, there is no doubt that if these excrements were carefully collected, and used in the best manner, the quantity of aliment obtained from them would be so great that a dense population might in this way very nearly approximate to that estimate. At present, they are generally left to decompose, without being turned to any account; or are carried off by drains to large rivers, and thus to the sea. An unskillful application of this material has sometimes led to a prejudice against it, and consequently an abandonment of it. Here the objection to it originates not in the fault of the article itself, but a want of due skill in its use; an evil, the remedy of which lies within the reach of every one. Night-soil produces surprising effects when carried to the land before its fermentation is completed, and carefully spread over it. The best way, however, of using it, is to form it into Avoid, if possible, spending your money before you have it. storm, fifty or sixty miles an hour; and in a hurricane, from eighty to a hundred miles an hour. |