78 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 8 



with plenty of good food and water, in the yards, 

 in prelerence to turning them out day and night, 

 to seek food, and squander manure. 



To show the care that is taken to collect mate- 

 rials lor making manure, I will mention, that in a 

 Jew weeks alter the grain har\ est, the stubbles are 

 all carefully mown, and the -sluhhle stuH is as care- 

 fully raked together and hauled to the vicmitj'of the 

 yards, as is the hay or grain at their proper seasons. 

 To facilitate the mowing, much pains is always 

 taken in ploughing, harrowinfr, and rellitiij the 

 land, to keep it even, and all stones or other ob- 

 structions are gathered and carried oil'. Again — 

 the whole produce of the corn field is carried off; 

 tile stalks are cut even wuii the ground — not from 

 eiiJ:ht to eighteen inches above it — and after husk- 

 ing, the stalks with their leaves and husks are tied 

 in bundles and hauled under cover, where they 

 are carefully preserved, and furnish, with turnips, 

 capital winter food for cows — the leaves, Iiusks, 

 and small ends of the stalks being eaten, the rest 

 making litter sufficient to keep the yards dry, and 

 the cattle clean, except in very wet weather, when 

 it is sometimes necessary to add a little straw, or 

 stubble stuff. After shelling corn, the cobs are all 

 conveyed to the yard to be incorporated in the ma- 

 nure. All manner of refuse vegetable matter ii'om 

 the garden, even to the trimmings of bushes, is also 

 conveyed to the yards. In short, the greatest jiains 

 are taken to keep the yards at all times well littered, 

 and to keep the horses, cows and pigs in the yard, 

 ns much as possible, withaplentilid supply of Jbod. 

 The result is, as above stated, Irom thirty to tbrty 

 per cent, of the farm manured annually from the 

 yards. 



Now it has been, and I dare say will be again 

 eaid, by way of objection, that corn stalks do not 

 make good manure; that there is no substance in 

 them; that it does not pay tot;d\e so much pains to 

 collect the means of enri<hing land. Indeed! and 

 how is all this known? Has it been tried? and if 

 yes — I may ask, in the words ol another — ''What 

 have you tried? How did you try it?" 



I recollect well an instance of the perversity of 

 farmers and others, in opposing, even by ridicule, 

 a deviation from the general habits of a neiohbor- 

 hood — which I will relate lor the purpose of show- 

 ing how strong are the prejudices against corn 

 Btalks and cobs as a means of making manure. 

 An intelligent farmer, wishing to make use of his 

 knowledge of the resources of his farm fur its 

 own improvement, deviated from the custom of 

 the neighborhood so far as to preler makintj ma- 

 nure on his farm, to hauling it from a neighljoring 

 city — which was suppoped to be the only available 

 Rource of great improvement. His neighbors gen- 

 erally condemned his plan in advance. They said, 

 "it will never do — corn Ktalk manure is j^ood lor 

 nothing — he will never tret his farm up in that 

 way." When the quantity of manure made was 

 urircd on their attention, the reply was still "it will 

 never do — its good for nothing." Indeed so mucli 

 was said about Mr. 's folly, that his work- 

 men became dissatisfied with their employment. 

 In the course of a short time, the general improve- 

 ment of the farm was so obvious, that the few be- 

 lievers began to call the -attention ol the croakers 

 to the fact — and what thi.nk you was the repiv? 

 "Umph, look at the quantiiy of manure he puts 

 on— any body could improve a farm if th^y would 

 manure as much as he does" — Ibrgelting their 



previous judgment as to the quality of the manure, 

 and their predictions that it would never do. 



Another instance is worthy of record. A young 

 man, who had learnt the value of corn stalks, and 

 thesysteinof managing them economically, moved 

 info a disirict chieliy inhabited by quakers. One of 

 his neiohhors iiappened to pa?s his corn field in the 

 liill, when he was busy collecting the produce, and 

 seeing him very parlicular in cutting off the stalks, 

 he called out, '-Friend M , what is thee go- 

 ing to burn thy sialks at this time of the year lor?" 



Mr. .replied, "lam not going to burn 



thein at all, but lo put them in the barn yard." — 

 "Thee might as well save thyseli'the trouble; they 

 will never make manure, and if thee puts them in 

 thy yard, tliee will never be able to get them out 

 again. Thee might as well put so many faggots 

 in thy barn yard ; thee had better burn them, and 

 manure thy land with the ashes." Such was the 

 opinion and the advice of an old man, to a young 



one just setting out in life. Mr. , who, by 



the way, has earned for himself the reputation of 

 a very good farmei, of course, paid no attention to 

 his neighbor's advice, but put the stalks in the 

 yards, as wanted, and in the spring hauled out 

 valuable manure in larjre quantities. The same 

 neighbor happened to pass by when he was haul- 

 ing out the manure, and when Mr. , called 



his attention to the fiict, that corn stalk manure 

 could be hauled out of a yard, he was met with 

 the assertions that it could never be spread, and 

 that it was good lor nothing. 



You ma}' think these anecdotes trifling and ri- 

 diculous, and so should I, did I not know how wide- 

 spread and inveterate are the prejudices against 

 any innovation on established customs — and did I 

 not wish to meet ar the threshoW, similar objec- 

 tions, which may present themselves to the minds 

 of many readers. 



But I find that I have only explained in part the 

 means of makinii barn yard manure, without suf- 

 ficiently explaining the way of doing it. It is ac- 

 complished by keeping the stock of the tiirm as 

 much as possilile in ihe yards. At all seasons, 

 winter and summer, I lie horses are kept in their 

 yard, wfiich is littered wiih straw, stubble stulf, 

 chaff, corn cobs, &c. In win'er, they are lifd with 

 hay, grain, turnips, and some times carrots. In 

 pumaier. a supply of green food is always given; 

 the grasses, luzerne, rje, corn, millet, &c., furnish 

 if, Being loose in the yard, their droppings are 

 mixed with, and absorbed by the vegetable sub- 

 stances with which they come in contact; and by 

 their trampintr, the mass is prevented from fer- 

 menting too much, and at the same time reduced 

 nearly to the condition of short muck. A constant 

 supply of vvater is provided in the yaid-. The hor- 

 ses, when they come in warm, are confined to the 

 stable for a time, to (ret cool, belbre being allowed 

 free access to it. The-y are also led with grain in 

 the stable — and sometimes, in very stormy wet 

 weather in winter, they are kept up — at all other 

 times, they generally are, and always ought to be, 

 loose in the yard. The cows are allowed to graze 

 a lew hours daily for a lew months in the j^ear — 

 they are yarded every afternoon, and kept in their 

 vard all night, having a supply of gieen food, as 

 above for the horses, given to them night and 

 morning. The rest of the year they are confined 

 to the >ard, with turnips and corn, fodder, and oc- 

 casionally potatoes, nubbins, a little corn meal, 



