CHEMICO-AGRICULTURAL TOUR. 155 



Hall, which is situated about four or five miles from that village. 

 The extent of this farm is one hundred and seventy acres ; and 

 this, from being an almost barren spot, that gentleman has con- 

 verted into a well-conditioned and highly profitable farm, where I 

 saw very fine crops of wheat, oats, and clover, growing in great 

 luxui'iance. 



Mr. Mechi's system of feeding and fattening stock appeared to 

 be excellent, and, with his most perfect arrangements, I have no 

 doubt, is very successful ; the following is a very brief outline of 

 the method adopted. The young cattle are first put into a large 

 airy shed, where they can freely move about and have sufficient 

 exercise for their healthy growth and development. After being 

 kept so for about a year, they are removed to smaller sheds, hav- 

 ing boarded floors, which are so constructed that the droppings of 

 the cattle can pass freely down between the interstices of the 

 boards into tanks placed beneath. By this arrangement tfte ma- 

 nure is all collected, the cattle are kept clean and dry, and there is 

 no straw or other substance required for littering them. When 

 the droppings have accumulated in the tanks, they are removed 

 from them at different periods as is found necessary ; this is effect- 

 ed by allowing a certain amount of water to flow into each tank, 

 so as to render its contents sufficiently liquid ; air is then forced 

 up from the bottom of each by means of a steam-engine, in order 

 to mix thoroughly the water with the animal excrements ; and, 

 finally, the liquid so obtained is allowed to flow into a large circu- 

 lar tank built under ground, the dimensions of which are thirty 

 feet in its greatest diameter in height and breadth, and capable of 

 holding about eighty thousand gallons. From this the liquid ma- 

 nure is forced by a pump, worked by steam, into the system of 

 iron pipes Mr. Mechi has laid down throughout his farm. These 

 are furnished at certain distances with taps, having cocks which 

 appear over the ground, and are for the purpose of screwing on 

 flexible tubing, to distribute the liquid manure, which is forced out 

 of a half-inch jet at the rate of eighty or ninety gallons per min- 

 ute (when the steam-engine is working with only medium power). 

 This force causes the jet of liquid to rise to a considerable height 

 in the air, from which it falls in the form of a fine shower, distrib- 

 uting the manure very evenly over the ground. This system of 

 • manuring has been found by Mr. Mechi to be attended with the 

 best results ; and it appears to me to have only one drawback, 



