126 



KEEPING ONE COW. 



piles of his opinionated countrymen, denonimate the dung heap 

 the " Fountainhead of Benediction." This, like other blessings, 

 may but too readily be perverted in its uses. 



Impressed with the necessity of husbanding every part and 

 portion of this substratum of good agriculture, we choose between 

 two distinct methods of saving and utilizing the fluid and solid 

 dejecta, viz.: the dry and wet. In the former the dejecta are com- 

 mingled with such absorbents as dry earth, leaves, straw, sawdust, 

 etc. ; in the latter, they are received in a tank where they are 

 mixed with sufficient water to stay loss by too rapid fermentation. 



Fig. 24. A COW STABLE WITH MANURE CELLAB. 



The application of the manure under either method is respectively 

 in its dry or m its liquid condition. 



If the dry or absorbent method be adopted, it will be found ad- 

 vantageous to locate the stable on a little declivity, so as to secure 

 a manure cellar with the least excavation. 



Thus, in fig. 24, C represents a manure cellar under the cow, 

 with a door at K for removal of manure. The floor and walls, to a 

 bight of two feet, of this cellar should be cemented. The floor, 

 on which the cow stands, should be of two-inch oak plank, with a 

 gutter behind, and a trap to empty the contents of the gutter into 

 the cellar. On level tracts of ground the Flemish stable, as used 

 in parts of the Brabant, and as described in the following plan fig. 

 25, by Felix Villeroy (Manuel de 1'Eleveur de Bdtes, a Comes, 6 

 Ed., p. 63), could be advantageously used for one cow. In figure 

 25, A is the place where the cow stands; B, Passage for dis- 

 tributing food, etc.; C, Depression where the manure is allowed to 

 accumulate behind the cow ; 2>, Cellar for roots ; E y Hay loft. 



