Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 43, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 July 1875 — Liquid Manure for Growing Crops. [ARTICLE]

Liquid Manure for Growing Crops.

A jovial story is told respecting a farmer and Horace Greeley in relation to the use of guano on potatoes, which suggests how indefinitely we are accustomed to speak of the ordinary afl’airs of life. The farmer desired to know- how Horace liked guano on potatoes? To which he replied that lie had never employed that material for such a purpose, as he felt certain that good gravy was preferable to guano. Liquid manure, such as flows from a compost-heap or ponds in a barnyard, is a first-class appliance to any root crop. If strong it should be applied before rain, as it may be diluted ancl diffused through the soil. The crop may easily be kept clean of weeds if frequently brushed over with the hoe before the weeds get a deep root. If the crop is too thick in the row hoeing crosswise of the row* facilitates thriving and weeding. Wurzels are the hardiest plant and will yield larger than beets, but the root is not as rich as the beet. The potato is an exception to a general rule of manuring other root crops. Such manure as will give out its strength slowly and keep tlte. soil loose is the best for potatoes. Spent tan-bark mixed with one-tenth part of quicklime, and one common, shovelful to a hill dropped on the seed and covered, will operate as a preventive of rot and improve the quality of the potato for table use. All slops about the premises should be carefully utilized. The cesspool, the stable and the refuse heap ought to serve the useful and appropriate purpose of aiding in the production of the household vegetables and fruits. But, on the contrary, it is doubtful if they are so utilized in any establishment, even where the means exist. Partially they have in some few cases been made to serve their proper purpose with the best effects. It is in densely-populated countries that liquid manuring has been brought into use and these valuable materials made serviceable. Without going so far as China and Japan for examples of this economy it may be stated that Belgium, the most thickly peopled country of Europe, offers the nearest and most conspicuous example of the preservation of every kind of animal manure, both solid and liquid, and its manipulation in tanks for the purpose of applying its solution or dilution to gardens and small farms. In many parts there is an arrangement of house drainage, combined with garden irrigation, recently brought into use that has been tested with satisfactory results, and that is full of promise for its future general adoption. This grew out of the "successful application of the system of earth closets to some cottages in a'village in the county, of Essex. The vast superiority of these over the common filthy cesspools makes more conspicuous than ever the inconvenience, insalubrity and waste of the usual slop-holes where the liquid waste of the house was disposed of. For sanitary purposes a method was devised to dispose of this waste, and for economical purposes a plan of utilizing it was adopted. ", In years past we have made use of % great many tons of liquid manure by dipping it with a pail from a depression at one side of the yard and pouring it in a hogshead resting on a stone boat. The whole was then drawn by a team to a field near by, when the liquid was allowed to flow out of a hole in the rear end of the hogshead.— N. Y. Herald.