288 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



bly be inculcated. The liquid droppings are as valuable as 

 the solid for manurial purposes, if properly treated. The 

 barns should be constructed with cellars to protect the solids 

 from exposure to the sun, winds, and rains, and -supplied with 

 absorbents sufficient to take up the liquids, so they can be 

 handled and utilized as well as the solids ; remembering that 

 the plant-food in the liquids is already in a state of solution, 

 prepared in the laboratory of the animal, ready to be taken 

 up by the rootlets of the plant, and without waiting for 

 elaboration after it has been committed to and mixed with 

 the soil, which furnishes the balance of the ingredients here- 

 tofore stored in its bosom. 



Another fact should never be absent from the mind of the 

 farmer, — that, the better the animal is fed, the better will be 

 the residuum after the meat (lean and fat), the milk, butter, 

 and cheese have been eliminated by the animal to which it 

 has been fed. Another point should be ever in mind, that 

 manure secured from the rays of the sun, the winds, and 

 rains, should not be exposed to such a hasty process of de- 

 composition as to throw off the ammonia, depriving it of its 

 nitrogen, and leaving a refuse, in value compared with manure 

 properly decomposed as would the ashes from a ton of hay or 

 grain compare with the hay or grain before it was consumed. 



2d, The barns should be so located, that the drainage there- 

 from should not flow into the road, nor into a stream, but 

 should be lurned on the surrounding lands; so that the fer- 

 tilizing elements can be absorbed, and taken up by the rootlets 

 of grasses and plants, instead of being wasted by the wayside, 

 or carried by the stream till diluted and wasted ; or may be 

 deposited for the benefit of some one down stream who has 

 no claims for this deposit. 



3d, The barnyard should be so located that it should not 

 receive water from any other source, but so as to retain its 

 own. 



Heat and moisture are two essential requisites for the 

 decomposition of manure ; but it is not necessary that it 

 should be in a Sahara or a deluge. Ordinarily, here is de- 

 posited the larger part of manure ; and here, also, should be 

 located the compost-heap, which may be made a deposit of 

 fertilizers hardly second in importance to the manure-heap 

 itself. This is the place where the animals spend a great 

 part of their time for the greater part of the year. 



