:260 ' ISs.nA 



Frame two pieces of scantling into it^ connecting them in front j an(i 

 to this fixture the team is to be attached. 



Do you believe that clods as big as a man's fist, or as big as his 

 head, are more useful to the crop than stones of the same size ? I 

 do not. But if we can break them — grind them to dust — and leave 

 them on the land, they would do as much good as other mellow earth ^ 

 of the same bulk. Now in warring against the clods, this instrument 

 is formidable; and most so before they become thoroughly dried. On 

 the same day therefore that the plow turns them up, let the drag- 

 roller grind them down, and let me suggest that lumps of barn yard 

 manure would escape not much better. 



Stable manure, however, is often saved for the wheat field; and at 

 any time during the summer^ either before or after harvest, it is ta- 

 ken out and thrown into heaps, where it lies wasting until seed time. 

 It is then thrown round into large lumps as before mentioned, the 

 plow covering some, while others too big to cover, stick up over the 

 field. If the wheat is harrowed, perhaps some of these pyramids are 

 upset or demolished; but often the harrow serves them as the plow 

 did — gives them a shove and passes on. Now it seems very clear ta 

 me that manure applied in this way, is comparatively of little value. 



There is another class of farmers w^ho manage things differently. 

 Soon after the warm weather commences in spring, they collect all 

 the manure of the barn yard into large heaps; and work it over, two 

 or three times in the course of the summer, so that the straw may 

 moulder and be more easily mixed with the soil. This advantage — 

 the only one that I can discover, is indeed secured, but at a heavy 

 expense. The best part of the manure passes off to visit their neigh- 

 bors, or roam at large through the atmosphere, leaving the worst part, 

 though still of some value, for the owners. The praise of industry 

 is theirs, and the reward of working for nothing and finding them- 

 selves. 



Another set of farmers, more enterprising still, make up all their 

 barn yard manure into compost. This is done by successive layers 

 of manure, rich earth and lime, together with any refuse stuff, animal 

 or vegetable, that may be at hand — to be turned and mixed several 

 times in the course of the season. Such manure is always valuable; 

 but with a little more knowledge, its value might be much increased. 



Let us consider this subject. From a heap of fermenting manure, 

 a vapor continually rises, very diflferent from the exhalation of a pond, 

 as our noses might testify. Perhaps some may think that such thin 

 diet as that would be of no consequence to a plant; but I can assure 

 them it is the best part of the manure. Humphrey Davy filled a 

 three-pint vessel with a bent neck, from a fermenting heap of stable 

 manure while it was hot, and turned the beak among the roots of 

 some grass. Nothing but vapor left the vessel; yet in less than a 

 week the grass grew with much more luxuriance than the grass in 

 any other part of the garden.* 



The value of this vapor is therefore evident; but how shall we save 



* Davy's Agricultural Chemistry. 



