136 [Senate 



over great rambling barn-yards, wholly exposed to the rains and 

 melting snows ; whereby at least three quarters of the true and 

 elementary properties of the manure are leached off and lost. 



What should we think of the housewife, who, as she gathered her 

 ashes for spring soap-making, should pile them out upon the snow, 

 exposed to all weathers 1 Would not every one exclaim with the 

 prompter, " she does not work it right." In what point are the two 

 processes different 1 



It is only the liquid and soluble parts of barn-yard manure, which 

 renders it superior to sawdust j or mere undecomposed vegetable mat- 

 ter J let any one observe a horse dropping deposited in the fall of the 

 year, which has laid exposed to the weather till some day in May ; 

 crush it and it is a dry, pulvurent, inodorous mass of finely cut hay, 

 without taste or smell, and is in fact worth no more than so much 

 stubble, except that it is finer, and if mixed with the soil would sooner 

 decompose and form humus, or the food of plants ; the virtue is 

 washed away by the great floods of winter and spring, and is career- 

 ing on to its destination, the Atlantic ocean. During a rain or 

 thaw, observe the pools, puddles and streams of the dark colored, rich 

 leachings about the barn-yard, that pass off into the next ditch, and 

 are lost. Can this be economy 7 Is there no better process for pre- 

 serving so valuable a material for the farm within the reach of those 

 of ordinary means 1 



It has been speciously urged that barn-yards should be concave, or 

 lowest at the center, with vats to contain the liquid manure ; but in 

 most cases it is a fallacy, as the quantity of water that falls on the 

 surface, and the drippings of roofs, and melting of snows, is so great, 

 that it will fill up the hollow of the yard and pass off, nor could any 

 sink or vats be constructed capacious enough to contain the liquids 

 within the ability of common farmers, and even if it were possible, 

 the quantity would be so great and so diluted, that it could in no way 

 be profitably used. 



Tanks and drains attached to stables where cattle and horses are 

 housed, is undoubtedly a great saving and improvement, for contain- 

 ing the urine, but is such a departure from the habits and customs of 

 our generality of farmers, that it can hardly prevail to any great ex- 

 tent. None but the wealthy, or the parvenuesj will go to the ex- 

 pense, or venture on the innovation. 



