MANURES. 357 



CX. MANURES. 



The subject of manures, in British husbandry, is one to which 

 I cannot attempt to do any thing like justice, in an examination 

 of this nature. It would require a large volume to treat it 

 properly, rather than a few pages of a single report. I shall not 

 enter at all in this place upon the philosophy of manures, but 

 merely refer to some few which are in use. 



Of course, under any improved condition of husbandry, all 

 possible pains will be taken, to secure in the best manner the 

 various resources of the farm itself; and yet I have seen here 

 no place in which this provision is complete, or in which more 

 might not be done than has been done. 



In most cases, the stable manure is left in the barn-yard uncov 

 ered ; and I have not met with a single barn cellar for receiving 

 manure, in the whole country. In general, the barn-yards are 

 square, with the sheds extending round three sides of them, and 

 the yard scooped out in the centre ; but it is not until recently 

 that they have found the advantage of putting gutters and spouts 

 to their farm buildings, for the prevention of the rain flooding 

 the manure in the yard, and thus exhausting its strength. In only 

 one case and that I have described have I seen a shed and 

 pit under it, for the protection of the manure. I have presumed 

 sometimes to describe to the farmers the excellent barn cellars 

 on many of the farms in New England, where the stable is built 

 on a side hill, and all the manure is shovelled through a trap 

 door behind the cattle, into a well-walled cellar, made tight at 

 bottom, and opened by a gate at one side or end, for the purpose 

 of removing the manure ; and where a certain number of store 

 swine are kept, who, by constantly rooting among the manure 

 and stirring it, keep it from heating excessively, while they in 

 termix it thoroughly, and reduce it to a fine state ; and where, 

 too, the whole is protected from the wasting influences of the 

 sun and rain, and is always in a condition to be applied to the 

 field. Where* the flatness of the land and the wetness of the 

 soil would prevent making a cellar, the barn or stable might be 

 of two stories in height, and the cattle kept, on what with us is 

 sailed the second story, but here always the first floor. 



