Farm- Yard Manure and its Managem:nt 



11 



this way will be the most economical ; fo;, althougli 

 we have seen that the fertilizing effects are more fully 

 developed by manure becoming well rotted, there is a 

 certain amount of loss attendant upon its reduction as 

 well as usually gi-eat waste, which, instead of being 

 otherwisedissipated, would under these circumstancesbe 

 taken up by the soil or the plant. An objection might be 

 raised thatitisimpossibleat anytime to applymanure to 

 the land, and plough it under, but I do not see why the 

 latter requisition should prevent the surface application, 

 for we have dispelled, I trust, that great bugbear and 

 illusion— I mean the supposition that valuable matters 

 are evaporated — and the soil under these circumstances 

 would get the benefit of any solutions the rain might 

 wash out. The successful application, however, all 

 depends upon taking into proper consideration the 

 character of the land itself, and the crop to which it is 

 applied. If fresh farm-yard manure is ploughed in at 

 once, the soil will gradually absorb its elementary con- 

 stituents as they are eliminated during the process of 

 slow decomposition, and consequently such an applica- 

 tion, although less active, is more durable in its effects, 

 and the results will possibly be more apparent in the 

 subsequent crop than in the one to which it is 

 applied. The following experiment, which I re- 

 collect being tried, bears out in practice this 

 theory, arrived at by the researches of chemistiy. 

 The land was of a rather heavy character, and might 

 be called a calcareous clay. One and a-half acres were 

 measured off and divided into three equal parts. Part 

 I was manured with about 5 tons of fairly-rotten 

 manure, in the middle of October, which was at once 

 spread. Part 2 received at the same time about the 

 same quantity, which was placed in small heaps. Part 

 3 was dressed also with about 5 tons, but this was not 

 applied till the middle of March, at which time the 

 three plots were ploughed. This ground was sown 

 with swedes. Plot i produced 5 tons 18 cwt. ; plot 2, 

 5 tons 16 cwt. I qr. 20 lb. ; plot 3, 5 tons 18 cwt. 

 This shews that the manure that had been exposed all 

 the winter, spread on the ground, had as good an 

 effect as that ploughed in fresh. The power of absorp- 

 tion and combination with manurial elements is much 

 greater in some lands than others, especially in those 

 soils that come under the category of clays. This 

 faculty diminishes gradually in soils of a less retentive 

 character, and is scarcely recognisable in the lighter 

 sandy soils. 



We here have it prepared in such a way, that the 

 solid and liquid excrements are thoroughly mixed with 

 just such a quantity of straw as will perform the func- 

 tions I have adverted to ; the treading solidifies the 

 mass, and we save both litter, manual labour, and 



haulage as well as all the waste that occurs so much 

 from exposure to weather. 



STALL-FEEDING SYSTEM. 

 With regard to stalls, I may remark that the prin- 

 cipal advantage supposed to be derived from their use 

 is the small quantity of litter required by the feeding 

 cattle on this system. This saving is effected by the 

 drainage of the urine direct from the animals ; but if 

 this liquid portion (which we have seen is of consider- 

 able value) is not made use of, its waste amounts to 

 so much loss of fertilizing value out of the manure that 

 is in the course of formation. The drains, however, 

 usually run into the pit into which the clearings of the 

 stalls are emptied two or three times a-day ; but instead 

 of saturating the mixen, they very often enter it at the 

 bottom for the sake of the fall. As the amount of 

 litter used is small, we should here have no superfluous 

 straw requiring saturation, in order to produce fermen- 

 tation ; consequently, if, as is often the case, stall 

 manure is thrown loosely twice a-day all through the 

 winter into an open yard or pit, and exposed to the 

 rain that falls upon it when in this very assailable con- 

 dition, with perhaps, for want of spouting, the rainfall 

 of the buildings also assisting in the washing process, 

 it becomes gi-eatly deteriorated of the valuable 

 fertilizers which the good food used in its production 

 have added to it. It is time this may be in a measure 

 obviated by stalls being placed contiguous to young 

 stock folds (and this is a point to which practical 

 farmers should attend), as the rich and concentrated 

 manure thrown out would become well trodden down 

 and incorporated with that of an inferior description, 

 in which an excess of straw, combined with its more 

 compact position, would tend to some extent to save 

 its good qualities from being so readily injured by the 

 action of rain. 



OPEN-YARD SYSTEM. 



We next come to the open-yard system of making 

 manure, and the one in which perhaps the larger pro- 

 portion in this county is produced, and however many 

 sources of loss we may be able to point out from this 

 method being pursued, we cannot pretend that it is 

 possible at once to alter it ; we should therefore first 

 turn our attention towards its improvement as gene- 

 rally carried out. The principal cause of loss is the 

 rainfall, but irrespective of this, the manure of yards 

 generally being produced by the young stock on the 

 farm, is of an inferior character to that produced by 

 feeding cattle, for the reasons that young stock are 

 stock. Practically we only require them for feeding 

 purposes, and there is no question of their superiority 

 over any other system, especially in the production of 



