Town Stable Manure: Its Chemical Composition and the changes it undergoes on keeping

Extract

The use of town stable manure enters so largely into the economy of farms, and especially market-gardens, situated within fairly easy distance of London or other large cities, that it is somewhat curious that but little information has been published in this country as to its chemical composition. In fact, with the exception of a couple of analyses made by myself as long ago as 1889, which were published at the time in the Mark Lane Express, and subsequently reprinted in Aikman's book on “Manures and Manuring,” I do not remember to have seen any analyses of London manure. The samples which were the subject of these analyses were collected from a very limited number of stables, some of which were littered with peat moss and others with straw, the object at the moment being to compare the manure produced with the two kinds of litter. I have more recently however made some fairly full analyses of two more representative samples of London manure, but before proceeding to give these it may be desirable to reprint in this place, for future reference, the old analyses just mentioned.