AXD MAXUKE KEPT UXDEK COYER. 279 



suu, as is generally done. When rough sheds have been built 

 to cover the manure-heap, the crops fertilised by this pile have 

 been increased in productiveness sufficient to pay for the shed- 

 covering the first year. I have never seen any exact figures of 

 the proportionate value of covered manures that I remember 

 until the following, which I have heard, and believe to have 

 been tested by Lord Kinnaird, a Scotch landowner and farmer. 

 They present the best statement possible, I think, of the advan- 

 tages of the plan. 



Four acres of good soil were measured, two of which were 

 manured with ordinary farmyard manure, and two with an 

 equal quantity of manure from the covered shed. The whole 

 were planted with potatoes. The products of each acre were 

 as follows: — Potatoes treated with farmyard (uncovered) 

 manure, one acre produced 272 bushels; one acre produced 

 292 bushels. Potatoes manured from the covered sheds, one 

 acre produced 442 bushels ; one acre produced 471 bushels. 

 The next year the land was sown with wheat, when the crop 

 was as follows: — Wheat on land treated with farmvard (un- 

 •covered) manure, one acre produced 41 bushels 18 lbs. (of 61 lbs. 

 per bushel") ; one acre produced 42 bushels 38 lbs. (of Gl lbs. 

 per bushel). Wheat on land manured from covered sheds, one 

 acre produced 55 bushels 5 lbs. (of 61 lbs. per bushel) ; one 

 acre produced 58 bushels 47 lbs. (of 61 lbs. per bushel). The 

 straw yielded one-third more upon the land fertilised with the 

 manure from the covered stalls than upon that to which the 

 ordinary manure was applied. These experiments are, I pre- 

 sume, sufficient evidence of the value of manure that has been 

 covered. The points are these — Xo urine should be lost, either 

 by sinking through the byre and stable floors when voided from 

 the animals, or by allowing it to run into open drains in tlie 

 farmyard, to mingle with the manure heap as best it can. The 

 floors of all tlie stables should be so secured, and supplied with 

 " covered drains," that all the urine may be conveyed into a 

 covered tank made of stone, or, better still, fire-brick, here to be 

 stored for future use. The urine contains more nitrogenous 

 matter than tlie solids, and should, therefore, be mixed with the 

 litter and solid substances, unless treated with sawdust, char- 

 coal, peat mould, dry earth, or some other absorbent. 



liemember, Peruvian guano itself is the excrement of birds. 

 The quantity of manure made and wasted on a farm is immense. 

 You can calculate what your farm makes from the following 

 estimate: — A, horse voids more than five tons of solid matter 

 and 25 cwt. of urine in one year. A cow Sh tons of solid and 

 4 tons of li»[ui(l matter in one year. A sheep about ^ ton solid 

 and licpiid matter in one year. A pig 25 cwt. solid 6 cwt. liquid 

 matter in one year. Of course much depends upon the size and 



