r 

 60 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



long-handled mallets, immediately after the grass shoots IF 

 the spring, and again before the rains commence in the au- 

 tumn. With these exceptions, and the slight waste which 

 may occur in driving cattle to and from the pasture, all the 

 manure should be dropped either in the stables or yards. 

 These ought to be so arranged, that cattle may pass from one 

 directly into the other ; and the yard should, if possible, be 

 furnished with running water. There is twice the value of 

 manure wasted annually, on some farms, in sending the cat- 

 tle abroad to water, that "would be required to provide it for 

 them in the yard for fifty years. 



Keep the premises where the manure is dropped, as dry 

 as possible ; and for this purpose, the eaves may project seve- 

 ral feet beyond the sides of the building, so as to protect the ma- 

 nure thrown out of the stables from the wash of rains. The 

 barns and all the sheds should have eave troughs to carry off 

 the water, which if saved in a sufficiently capacious cistern, 

 would furnish a supply for the cattle. The form of the yard 

 ought to be dishing towards the centre ; and if on sandy or 

 gravelly soil, it should be puddled or covered with clay to 

 prevent the leakage and escape of the liquid manure. The 

 floors of the stable s may be so made, as to permit the urine 

 to fall on a properly prepared bed of turf, placed under them 

 for its reception, by which it would be effectually retained, 

 till removed ; or it should be led off by troughs into the yard, 

 or what is more desirable, to a muck heap. 



It is better to feed the straw and coarse fodder, which can 

 always be advantageously done by cutting them with a 

 straw-cutter, and mixing it with meal or roots. When it is 

 not thus consumed, it may first be used as litter for the cat- 

 tle, and as it becomes saturated with the droppings it should 

 bo thrown into the yard. 



If the cattle are fed under sheds, the whole surface ought 

 to be covered with such straw and refuse forage as can 

 be collected ; and if there is a deficiency of these, peat or any 

 turf, which is well filled with the roots of grass, and espe- 

 cially the rich wash from the road side may be substituted. 

 The manure may be allowed to accumulate through the win- 

 ter, unless it be more convenient to carry it on to the fields 

 When the warm weather appproaches, a close attention to 

 the manure is necessary. The escape of the frost permits 

 circulation of the air through it, and the increasing heat of 

 the sun promotes fermentation and decomposition. 



Long and Short Manure. The question has been often 



