Letter on Covered Yards. 223 



subject, purposely avoidins^ all details of construction, which 

 have been so well handled by Mr. Moscrop. 



" The arguments in favour of covered yards may be stated 

 under the following heads : — • 



"1. Health and condition of live stock, 



" 2. Goodness of manure. 



" 3. Economy of management. 



" Under the first head it may be confidently stated that the 

 experience of those who have tried covered yards is uniformly in 

 their favour, if properly constructed. The roofs of farmyards 

 ought to be high, and provided with means of thorough ventila- 

 tion, so that the temperature within cannot rise much above that 

 of the outer air. Where this is the case, the stock are sheltered 

 but not tendered; and after several years experience of both 

 systems, I can speak positively to the fact that: the same kind of 

 stock, with the same allowance of food, are decidedly healthier, 

 and turn out in spring in much better condition from covered 

 than from open yards. 



" The second head is, however, the one on which I would lay 

 the most stress. No farmer will dispute the assertion that 

 ' manure is the mainstay of good farming ; ' and it is equally 

 undeniable, that tlie very best of manure, if exposed long enough 

 to the washing of rain, becomes perfectly useless for the nutrition 

 of plants. But it is difficult to measure the actual loss expe- 

 rienced during a few months of rainy weather ; and no calcula- 

 tion can be so satisfactory as actual trial. When first I began 

 to use manure made in a covered yard, it was put on for white 

 turnips in the usual quantity, and they were stimulated by it to 

 an unnaturally rapid growth and excessive size, which were very 

 prejudicial to their keeping qualities ; and taught me the lesson, 

 which has since been abundantly confirmed, that manure made 

 under cover is fully one-third stronger than that which has been 

 exposed to the rains of winter in open yards. Before trial, it 

 might be supposed that manure made under cover would turn 

 out dry and mouldy ; but if the quantity of straw used is in 

 reasonable proportion to the number of live stock kept, it will be 

 invariably found that the manure turns out in first-rate condition. 

 The explanation is easy, the most common cause of damage to 

 manure beins: that the fertilizing salts it contains are washed out 

 by rain as fast as they are formed by the decomposition of the 

 heap, and when these salts are all retained, the moisture will be 

 retained also. 



" The only case where the advantage of covering yards is 

 questionable, is on a large sheep-farm to which little grazing- 

 land is attached. On the Wolds of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire 

 such farms are numerous, and the quantity of straw grown is out 



