A dictionary of modern gardening - University Library

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DUN 205 DUN
Mr. Cutlibert Jolinson, after giving
these analyses in his work already
quoted, observes further, that, " the
fa;ces of cattle fed principally on turnips
have been analysed by M. Einhof;
100 parts evaporated to dryness yielded
28.^ parts of solid matter; the 7U parts
lost in drying would consist principally
of water and some ammoniacal salts.
In half a pound, or 3,840 grains, he
tbund 45 grains of sand ; and by diffusing
it through water, he obtained
about 600 grains of a yellow fibrous
matter, resembling that of plants,
mixed with a very considerable quantity
of slimy matter. By evaporating
faeces to dryness, and then burning
them, he obtained an ash, which contained,
besides the sand, the following
substances :
Lime 12.
Phosphate of lime .... 12.5
Magnesia 2.
Iron 5.
Alumina, with some manga-) .
nese
Silica
J
52.
Muriate and sulphate of) . „
potash 5
" The ingredients of which the urine
and fa;ces of cattle are composed, will
of course differ slightly in different
animals of the same kind, and according
to the different food upon which
they are fed ; but this difference will
not in any case be found very material.
" The excrements of the sheep have
been examined by Block ; according
to him, every 100 lbs. of rye-straw
given as fodder to sheep yield 40 lbs.
of excrements (fluid and solid) ; from
100 lbs. of hay, 42 lbs.; from 100 lbs.
of potatoes, 13 11)s. ; from 100 lbs. of
green clover, 8^ lbs.; and from 100 lbs.
of oats, 49 lbs. of dry excrement. The
solid excrements of sheep fed on hay,
were examined by Zierl ; 1,000 parts
by weight being burned, yielded 96
parts of ashes, which were found to
consist of
Carbonate, sulphate, and)
muriate of soda . . . j
—
.
,p
Carbonate and phosphate of) -^
'^^
lime J
Silica 60
" One hundred parts of the urine of
sheep kept at grass, contained
Water 96.
Urea, albumen, &c. . . . 2.8
Salt of potash, soda, lime,)
and magnesia, &c. . .
—Journ. Roy. Agr. Soc.
J
1.2"
There have been many arguments
and much difference of opinion among
cultivators with regard to the advantage
of employing dung in a fresh or
in a putrid state, and as is too often the
case, both parties have run into extremes,
the one side contending for
the propriety of employing it quite
fresh from the farm-yard, the other
contending that it cannot well be too
rotten.
The mode employed by Lord Leicester,
is the medium between these equally
erroneous extremes. He found that
the employment of the fresh dung certainly
made the dung go much farther ;
but then a multitude of the seeds of
various weeds were carried on to the
land along with the manure. He has
therefore since used liis compost when
only in a half putrefied state, (called
short dung by farmers,) and hence the
seeds are destroyed by the eftects of
the putrefaction, and the dung still extends
much farther than if suffered to
remain until quite putrefied. Putrefaction
cannot go on without the presence
of moisture. Where water is entirely
absent, there can be no putrefaction ;
and hence many farmers have adopted
the practice of pumping the drainage of
their farm-yards over their dung heaps ;
others invariably place them in a low
damp situation. This liquid portion
cannot be too highly valued by the
cultivator. The soil where a dunghill
has lain in a field is always distinguished
by a rank luxuriance in the
succeeding crop, even if the earth beneath,
to the depth of six inches, is
removed and spread with the dunghill.
The controversy, too, which once so
keenly existed, as to the slate of fermentation
in which dung should be
used on the land, has now pretty well
subsided. There is no doubt but that
it cannot be applied more advantageously
tlian in as fresh a state as
possible, consistent with the attainment
of a tolerably clean husbandry,
and the destruction of the seeds of
weeds, grubs, &c., which are always
more or less present in farm-yard dung.
These are the only evils to be appre-