Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 13.djvu/33

MANTJL. 21 MANXJBES AND MANUKING. is wliitish-gray, with a few black marks on the chest and about the head, and a few dark vertical bands across the loins. It has a verj' broad, round head, a short, heavy, ringed tail, and the appearance of great strength and endurance. MANUMISSION (Lat. manumissio, from maiiinnillcic, to manumit, from iiianus, hand + mittere, to send). In Roman law, the enfran- chisement of a slave. In the older law {jus ci- vile), this could be accomplished: (1) Tindicta, i.e. by a fictitious action. In the later law, the forms of suit were dropped, and the master sim- ply appeared before the magistrate and declared that the slave was to be set free. (2) Cchsii, i.e. by the entry of the slave's name, with the assent of the master, on the register of citizens. This form disappeared in the Imperial period. (3) Tcstanunlo. i.e. by a bequest of liberty in the master's will. When the Roman Empire became Christian, a fourth mode of manumission was recognized — mdniimissio in ecclesia, by declara- tion of the master in the presence of priest and congregation. Informal manumissions 'among friends,' or "by letter,' were originally void : but jU the later Republican period individuals thus freed were protected by the magistrates and in the Imperial period they were recognized as legally free. These informal manumissions were regulated, under Justinian, by requiring five wit- nesses to prove the manumission. The right of a master to manumit his slaves was restricted in the Imperial period. Some of the restrictions were imposed in the interest of creditors; others in the interest of the public. By manumission the slave usually became a citizen, but his political rights were restricted. Moreover, he remained for life in a relation of dependency ; he was the 'client' of his master and of his master's children, and owed them certain semi-feudal observances and services. He and his children were also debarred from marriage with free-born persons. Consult the authorities referred to under Civil Law. Among the early Germans also the ordinary forms of manumission, by the act of the master alone, gave the freedman only a partial freedom ; he was dependent upon his former master for protection. There were, however, methods of manumission which gave the former slave the full rights of a freeman, viz. his adoption into a kinship group or into the trilie. MANURES AND MANURING (from OF. muniiavrer, manovrcr, Fr. maiicccrcr, to manage, work by hand, from OF. manouvre, manovrc, from ML. maniiopcrn, t)tanoprra, a working with the hand, from Lat. inaiius. hand + oprra, work). In a broad sense, the term manure is applied to any substance used to increase the productive- ness of soil. The word is commonly used in a more restricted sense to mean the excreta (solid and liquid) of farm animals, either mixed or unmixed with litter, and more or less fermented. In this article the term is used in its broader sense. Manures may be direct or indirect in their effect. The former supply plant food which is lacking in the soil, the latter render active the insoluble fertilizing constituents already present and improve the chemical, physical, and bio- logical conditions in the soil. The first class in- cludes the so-called commercial or artificial fer- tilizers, such as superphosphates, nitrate of soda, etc. ; the second embraces natural manures, such as the green manures, sea-weed (q.v. ), and ani- mal manures, and the soil amendments or soil improvers, such as lime, gypsum, salt. etc. Under certain conditions all these manures may be both direct and indirect in their action. Plants derive the bulk of their food directly or indirectly from the atmosphere. A small but very essential portion, however, is drawn from the soil. This inchulcs the inorganic or ash constituents and nitrogen, which, liowever, is in certain cases derived indirectly from the air. These substances, being soluble, are transported by water, which is not considered a food. Of the soil constituents which plants need only four are likely to be exhausted by ordinary sj'stems of cropping, viz. nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and, in some eases, lime. Direct manures supply one or more of these constituents, which are known as the essential fertilizing elements. The fertility of the soil would remain practically luiclianged if all the ingredients removed in the various farm products were restored to the land. This may be accomplisiied to a large extent by feeding the crops grown on the farm to animals, carefully saving the manure and returning it to the soil, and when practicable combining a ju- dicious use of green manures with a system of stock feeding in which those farm products comparatively poor in fertilizing constituents are exchanged for feeding stuffs rich in these substances. L'nder such practice the loss of soil fertility may be reduced to a minimum or there may even be an actual gain in fertility. Under ordinary conditions of farming, however, the ma- nure produced on the farm is not sufficient to maintain its fertility. Roberts estimates that in ordinary mixed husbandry only about one-half of the fertility taken from the soil by crops is re- stored in farm manures. Hence the necessity for supplying the deficiency from other sources, resulting in the wide use of artificial or com- mercial fertilizers of various kinds. JSTatural Manures. These include all manu- rial substances derived from natural sources without undergoing any specific treatment or process of manufacture, such as animal excreta and all animal and vegetable refuse of the farm, as well as various factory wastes. The natural manures are. as a rule, bulky in character and contain small amounts of the essential constitu- ents. The most important and useful of the natural manures is farmyard or Iiarnyard ma- nure. Its quality, which is very variable, depends upon the care taken in its preservation, the kind and age of the animal producing it. the quantity and quality of the food used, nature and amount of the litter added. Experiments conducted at the Agricultural Experiment Station of Cornell University furnish the data on following page regarding the amount and value of the maniire produced by different farm aninials under ordi- nary conditions of liberal feeding. IMature animals, neither gaining nor losing weight, excrete practically all of the fertilizing constituents consumed in the food. Growing ani- mals and milch cows excrete from 50 to 75 per cent, of the fertilizing constituents of the food; fattening or working animals from 90 to 95 per cent. Roberts states that the value of the manure produced by animals is from 30 to 50 per cent, of the food they consume. As regards