KEEPING ONE COW. 125 



UNDERDRAWING AND CARE OF MANURE. 



BY H. H. HALL, NEW ORLEANS, LA. 



Let us locate one acre of land on the thirty-eighth degree of 

 north latitude, midway across the continent, say near the City of 

 St. Louis. While under the intensive system of cultivation which 

 will be pursued, less land than one acre will ultimately be found 

 sufficient to supply the wants of one cow, it would not be advis- 

 able to begin with a less quantity. That one acre is sufficient is 

 opposed to the general opinion, as witness the assertion of Mr. 

 Schull, of Little Falls, K Y., that the land in pasturage and hay, 

 requisite for the support of one cow, is three acres, and this accords 

 with the estimate of Mr. Carringtoa for moderately good dairy 

 farms in England. Colman says : Three acres are required for a 

 cow in Berksire Co., Mass. Mr. Farrington, in the Report 

 of the American Dairymen's Association says, four; while 

 Mr. X. A. Willard thinks that in Herkimer Co., N. Y. , one and a 

 half to two acres will pasture one cow, and that in some excep- 

 tional cases one acre will suffice. 



True it is that these estimates take into consideration grass and 

 hay solely, and the treatment of the land is presumed to be that 

 usually pursued, viz. : scant allowance of manure, absence of sub- 

 soil drainage, and consequently shallow cultivation. 



But high manuring and deep cultivation are indispensable in 

 view, viz.: the obtaining the greatest quantity of dairy food from 

 the least land. And high cultivation, implying depth of soil, tilth, 

 porosity and aeration is impossible without subsoil drainage ; nor 

 in its absence does manure produce its best effects. It is foreign 

 to the purpose of this article to elucidate the action of tile drain- 

 ing upon crops and soil. The lasting and great benefit of the 

 system is, to-day, a matter of such plain fact, that no intelligent 

 agriculturist will question it. 



Therefore we begin by selecting an acre of land which affords the 

 best facilities for laying tile-drainage pipes. An easy slope with a 

 good, open outlet into ditch, run, or gulch, .is all that is required, 

 The advantages of a sunny exposure are so obvious that, if 

 possible, we should choose land which trends to the south and 

 east. The tile-draining of one acre will necessitate an outlay of 

 about twenty-five dollars ; but this expenditure is indispensable 

 to the obtaining of the best results. 



THE DUNG HEAP. 



Truly did the German agriculturist, Schwerz, in seeing the fer- 

 tile streamlets oozing and trickling away from the exposed manura 



