128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. ^ 



hundred per cent, might be added to our manure by a proper conatruc- 

 tion of hog yards, and supplying them with materials, the right ar- 

 rangement of hen roosts, privies, and slop-sewcrs — the arrangement 

 being such as to save all their products, and sup^ying an abundance 

 of absorbents, such as saw dust, spent tan bark, dried leaves, brakes, 

 and other weeds, m.uck and the like. There is, in many places, a good 

 supply of muck, and it is considered valuable to spread in the cow 

 yards, hog-yards, and for compost, mixed with stable manure. It is a 

 good dressing for potatoes, unmixed, improved by a little lime and 

 plaster. Special manures have not been sufficiently tested to deter- 

 mine their comparative value. Guano has been used in several in- 

 stances for corn and potatoes, and with apparant advantage. Plaster 

 is considered almost indispensable, used in connection with other ma- 

 nures, for tilled crops of every kind." 



rROM \y, R. FLINT. 



"In Anson, compost heaps of one-third from the barn-yard, and 

 two-thirds swamp muck, are sometimes put up anc^ used on grass 

 ground to advantage. But the more general practice is, to deposit 

 some loads of muck in the yards of the barn and hog pen ill the fall, 

 so that, the mixture the next fall will be half and half. This is used 

 for corn crops in the hill. Dried clay and ashes improve it, if well 

 mixed, for sandy soils. It is believed that all manures may, in this 

 way, be increased in value at least thirty per cent. There are but few 

 localities where materials for composting and mixing manures may not 

 be found in abundance. All wood lands are a good resort for this 

 purpose. Scrape the leaves, with the top of the ground, and cart it 

 into the yards at any season of the year. This is fully equal to the 

 very best muck. The concentrated manures, with the exception of 

 plaster of Paris, have not been thoroughly tested in this town. One 

 man has tried guano on moist upland to no good effect, but it is still 

 on trial in other localities. The use of plaster has not increased for 

 the last twenty years, excepting on sward land for the potato crop, 

 since the potato rot has prevailed." 



FROM HENRY IIOBBS. 



In Hope, stable manures are generally used in a crude state. I can 

 not tell the per centage of loss there is of manures from the want of 

 proper care, but should think as much as one-half. In the first place, 

 almost all the urine is lost. In the second, much of the manure is 

 wasted by being exposed to the sun and rains. The urine might be 

 saved, by the use of tanks, or by putting absorbents imder the floor 

 where cattle and horses stand. Perhaps litter on the floor might 



