Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1874 — Sawdust in The Stable. [ARTICLE]

Sawdust in The Stable.

The New England Farmer says: “The doctors and the professors are discussing the value of sawdust and shavings when applied to land. Mr. Knox, in the New York Tribune, cautions against the use of shaving's as a mulch, . and believes they must prove injurious, Professoi S. W. Johnson thinks otherwise. Both argue the case from a scientific stand point. Mr. Knox believes that potash must be fed to plants in an elementary or uncombined state. Mr. Johnson claims that pure potash is destructive to vegetation, and can only become plant food when combined with an acid. When doctors disagree who shall decide’ We do not claim to know much about the chemistry of sawdust, but we have used it several yea’s as an absorbent of urine, and as bedding for horses and cattle. We prefer to have ’it seasoned and dry, and should choose that made from hard wood, but we take, such as we can get, which is nearly all made from pine logs. Our conclusions are that sawdust is the cleanest bedding we have ever used; that if tht manure is kept trodden down hard to prevent excessive fermentation, it is no injury to the manure heap. Our experiments prove that sawdust soaked with urine and used as a top-dressing on grass land, will show where it was spread by an increased growth of grass; that when the manure is made up largely of sawdust, that is, when enough is used to Soak up and retain all the urine, it has never injured any of the urops to which it has been applied. We have grown all kinds ,pf crops bn it, without perceiving an}- injurious effects therefrom. We shall continue its use in such quantities as will make Comfortable bedding for our cows, and as an absorbent, till we see some harm done by it, as long as it can be obtained by carting two or tlieee miles. As a fertilizer, perhaps sand or loam, or drymuck, or straw would be better; but all cannot have these in abundance, and we must use for bedding tjie best materials within our reach.” Our own experience with sawdust (whether pipe, hemlpck, spruce or hard wood) has been similar to. that of our r

contemporary. We would not apply sawdust to land without composting it; but it is one of the best methods of composting, to litter the cattle and horse stables with it-*— Rural Neu> Yorker.