1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



169 



cessary to be asked by the seller, so long as there 

 is no hotter price otlcrcd ibr the manure that is 

 made. Slill less, under the existing circumstances 

 and present opinions, can the owners of private 

 stables, or persons who keep only one or two 

 horses, or cows, in the town, aflord to pay for a 

 eulKciency of litter — as their Ironble and cost would 

 be greater, and their sales of manure less pro- 

 fitable, than ol the large stable owner — becauHC 

 every small business is less profitable than large 

 operations. Thcrelbre it is in vain to expect a 

 change from the owners of town stables, unless it 

 is made their interest, by the owners of neighbor- 

 ing iiirms i)resenting a sufficient demand lor the 

 manure, in its recent and most valuable condition. 

 Thcrelbre, while so little country demand exists 

 for the manure — and while travellers and otiier 

 horse owners vAll submit to the present abuse of 

 the animals in stables— there will be no beneficial 

 change in the management. I shall hereafter pro- 

 pose advantageous aieans for supplying the defi- 

 ciency of litter; but at present, shall contmue the 

 consideration of matters as they now are. 



According then to the present system of stable 

 management — if it were not for the bad quality of 

 the hay, which causes much ol" it to be pulled out 

 of the racks without being eaten, and thus to be 

 trodden under — the horses in most public stables 

 would have nothing beneath their f^et when 

 standing, or their bodies, when excessive fatigue ab- 

 solutely compels them to lie down, except the earth, 

 wet and saturated, if not actually made miry, by 

 their urine. 



The rack is kept filled with hay, and the horse 

 perhaps receives a very fall allowance of grain. 

 But a drj' and clean bed to stand and to lie on, 

 with half as much corn, and a fourth as much of 

 good hay, v/ould probably keep the animal in more 

 comlbrt, and as good health -and fiesh — while the 

 materials for manure, or the product in the stable, 

 would be increased ten-fold. 



The urine of animals, considering the very 

 large proportion it makes of their excretions, is lit- 

 inlerior in value, as manure, to the more solid 

 part; and this is lost, on an earthen floor, not 

 well covered by absorbing litter. It merely serves 

 to make the fioor filthy, and very uncomtbrtable, if 

 not absolutely injurious to the health of the horses. 

 When a plank fioor is used, the horse is at least 

 kept out of the mire — but the urine leaking through 

 the planks, settles n:ito the earth belovv", and is 

 there continually decomposing, and throwing up 

 ammonia, and other gases. A belter plan than 

 either of these is seen in one of the li^-ery stables 

 in Richmond. It has a plank fioor, and Shockoe 

 creek passes under the house — and by a lew auger 

 holes in every stall, all the fluid, semi-fluid, and 

 much of the solid matter, are gotten rid of with 

 less trouble than by the usual modes, though not 

 more eflectually — and the horses at least are free 

 from the inconvenience of standing in filth. 



But as every stable owner has not the conveni- 

 ence of a creek to receive the richest parts of his 

 manure, let us proceed to consider the more usual 

 modes. The stable is cleaned out every morning, 

 by sweeping up the dung, and the httle wet hay 

 (or other litter if any,) mixed with it, and carrying 

 it in wheelbarrows to be thrown on a heap in ^he 

 yard. The mud forrned by the urine with the 

 earthen floor, is swept over very lightly, lest any 

 of it should be removed. Of course, so far as the 

 Vol. V— 22 



end aimed at is attained, the urine is all lost to the 

 manure; but acts, in decomposing, to do all the 

 harm it is capable of in exhaling gases. What 

 may be thai amount of harm, under these circimi- 

 stances, or whether there is any produced, I do 

 not pretend to say. It is enougli that, as manure, 

 the urine is totally lost. The richness of the ma- 

 terials of the heap, and its want of continued and 

 sufficient moisture, induce speedy, rapid and vio- 

 lent liirmentation, which is soon destructive of all 

 the richest and most soluble ])arts of the vegetable 

 as well as the animal ingredients; and this lermen- 

 tation continues as long as there is enough re- 

 maining moisture to support it. The slow and 

 gradual additions to the manure heap, made every 

 day, just serve to maintain a continual and fierce 

 heat. These daily supplies of new materials are 

 like fuel added to fire. The residuum, after this 

 scorching operation, is the stable manure that is 

 usually applied to the soil. It may be true that 

 the destructive process is not olten so effectually 

 performed, nor carried to its final end — and there- 

 fore that all the possible damage described above 

 is not produced. But there is scarcely a doubt, 

 but that, on a general average, three-fourths of the 

 value of the nevi' manure, actually produced daily 

 in the stables, is totally dissipated, and lost in the 

 air. Let it be remembered, that the richer the 

 mass, and the larger the heap, the more violent 

 and destructive will be the fermentation, and the 

 greater the loss. 



In addition to the theoretical views presented, and 

 the stateinents of general results, v/hichgotoshovv 

 the little value of manure that has passed through 

 this burning process, I will mention a particular 

 fact just stilled to me b}' a highly respectable gen- 

 tleman and practical farmer, near Petersburg, 

 Vf hen he took possession of the llirm on which 

 he resides, he found on it a considerable heap of 

 stable manure which had been brought from the 

 town stables, and put in a heap, for preservation, 

 as it is usually considered, to remain until it was 

 time to apply it to the next j'ear's crop. The suc- 

 ceeding occupant, (my informant,) made the ap- 

 plication — and obtained from it scarcely any bene- 

 fit. The manure was much fire-fanged: it pro- 

 bably had been thrown into a new and violent fer- 

 mentation by its removal, and second heaping, in 

 addition to all that is usually suffered in the stable 

 yard. 



U] instead of saving the manure according to 

 anj^of the usual modes, the cleanings of everyday 

 were regularly thrown into the river, (as done in 

 part, at the Richmond livery stable named above,) 

 or into the fire, it would be not much loss of value, 

 in the end, compared to the results now obtained 

 — and there would be great benefits gained in 

 other respects. Besides all other possible evils of 

 keeping up a constantly hot fermenting mass in 

 ever}^ stable yard, it serves, in town or country, as a 

 breeding place for myriads of stable andhouseflies. 

 These insects are prompted by instinct to depo- 

 site their eggs in the hot mass; and I liave seen in 

 the bulk Avhen opened, the maggots which the 

 eggs had produced in such prodigious numbers, 

 that it alone satisfied me of the impropriety of thus 

 providing hot beds and the best possible breeding 

 establishments for these pests. It probably re- 

 quires a certain combination of heat and moisture 

 to efl'ect the hatching so uniforn)Iy and in such 

 great numbers. But whether hatched gradually, 



