You can't have too much manure

[Eristic]

There has been many heated debates here over the past year about manure, how it burns, how it overwhelms the plants etc so I thought you may like to read how it was done 200 years ago. The writer of the newspaper article below considered himself foremost in his field, but a collegue (in another field) consistantly produced far greater tonnage.

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April 2.â€"Mr. Herod, observing by the papers that very heavy
crops of mangel wurzel had been raised, resolved to be, as he
says, " one pf the first among them." In 1817, he manured,
with twelve three-horse loads of rotten dung an acre, and raised
the plants on ridges. This crop weighed only sixty tons an
acre. In 1818, manured as before, and sowed the seed broadcast ;
produce the same as last year ; was then thirty tons short
of Mr. Phillips, who had grown ninety tons an acre. Recollecting
that gardeners trench their land deep, in. 1818, he trench-
ploughed an acre eighteen inches deep, first laying on ten three-
horse cart loads of dung, fresh from the farm-yard, which settled
to the bottom of the trench. In March, ten loads more
were laid on, and ploughed in twelve inches deep. In April it
had a third dressing, as before, and ploughed a little more shallow.
In the middle of May it was ploughed and sown broadcast.
The plants were hoed out at 12 inches by 12. In September,
the tops being large and heavy, were rifted off, and
given to the cows and pigs. In November another crop of tops
had grown. The whole were then taken up, and weighed 80
tons 5 cwt.; still short of Mr. Phillips's near 10 tons.

That's at least 60 tons of fresh bullshit an acre the year after feeding 25 tons per acre. AND still he was beaten.

I thought I was heavy with the muck?

[Eristic]

[saddad]

Which reminds me I need to 'phone for a load to be delivered in the New Year!
;D

[Robert_Brenchley]

In those days they had vast quantities of horses producing vast quantities of shit. People must have been desperate to get rid of the stuff.

[saddad]

Most people with horses still are...
;D
Sadly the automobile produces nothing quite so useful even if you feed it Bio-fuel!
::)

[Barnowl]

They used to put the manure from the streets on barges at the City's wharves, which then floated up the Thames on the tide to places like Battersea and Barnes where it was spread on the fields - now mostly built over of course.

[Rob08]

*sigh*  what we wouldn't give to have such a ready supply of crap to hand...

[Ceratonia]

The figures still compare very well with what modern farmers using chemical fertilisers expect to yield on fodder beet - something like 40 tons per acre.

[Eristic]

I wonder how the cost analysis would stack up though.

The modern farmer is probably sacrificing 50 tons an acre or more simply because they are forced to grow small beet to fit the machinery. Those old mangolds were up to 24" diameter and weighing 30 - 40lbs.