170 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 3 



or nearly at the eame time, very slight observation 

 of a Uvery stable in summer, will show that the 

 horses, though standing in the stalls, are lar from 

 idle; Ibr it requires incessant movements of their 

 heads, feet, and tails, to partially relieve iheni- 

 selves Ironi the continued attacks of legions of 

 sharp-biting flies. 



Equally ignorant and destructive management 

 is found in regard to many other smallersources of 

 rich manures in towns — which are either given 

 up entirely to corrupt the air and the Vi/aters, or 

 but a small part of their value is used to nourish ve- 

 getables and improve the soii. I should extend 

 these remarks beyond the reader's patience, or sul- 

 ference, if every department of this copious sub- 

 ject was examined. I shall therctbre pass by all 

 these miscellaneous matters, and confine my re- 

 maining observations on town manures, to the 

 means of avoiding the worst of the present losses 

 caused by stable nmnagement. 



In proposing other modes of economizing the 

 value of stable manure, fand v/hich are applica- 

 ble also to street droppings, and to sundry other 

 rich materials, not specially named,) I shall keep in 

 view the existing obstacles to every such improve- 

 ment; and therelbre, even if all the changes re- 

 commended, were adopted, they would not consti- 

 tute the 6esi system that the most enlightened 

 economy would fix upon. My directions and sug- 

 gestions, moreover, will be made as concise as pos- 

 sible — and perhaps, may be altogether superfluous 

 to those readers who will keep in mind the general 

 principles that have been advanced and enforced, 

 and who will simply aim, in practice, to avoid 

 the manifest and great evils and losses of the pre- 

 sent system of management. 



First — supposing the supply of litter to continue, 

 as now, very inadequate for making manure in 

 proper quantities, and ibr sufficiently modera- 

 ting the fermentation of the parts. In this case, the 

 manure should never be heaped, bat be kept thinly 

 spread until removed to the land, or to be com- 

 posted in the country with enough of other and 

 poorer materials; and the leraovals ought to take 

 place every day, or at not much longer intervals. 

 Until so removed, the manure should be protected 

 as much as possible from sun, wind, and especially 

 from rain, or other water so abundant as wash away, 

 or to carry into the earth, the juices of the manure. 

 But all these circumstances, injurious as thej' may 

 be, are not eo wasteful and destructive as the usual 

 hot and violent fermentation. A cellar, or basement 

 floor, under the plank floor of a public stable, if 

 easily accessible to carts, offers the easiest and best 

 means for cleaning out, and disposing of the ma- 

 nure as made; but heaping there, also, should be 

 avoided, if to remain even 24 hours; and thorough 

 and equal soaking of the urine through the solid 

 parts of the manure, should be secured. The 

 earthen floor of this cellar, or of the stable itsellj 

 if there is no cellar beneath, should be covered 

 once or twice a year with a layer of rich marl, 

 several inches thick. This would save (by com- 

 bining with and fixing) much of the rich fluid 

 which otherwise would sink in the earth for want 

 of absorbing litter, and ultimately be decomposed, 

 and lost. When necessary to remove this tempo- 

 rary calcareous floor, it would furnish of itself one 

 of the most powerful of manures, and be an ex- 

 cellent ingredient to mix with the putrescent mat- 

 ter. 



It is an important object at present for town 

 stable owners to procure such kinds of" litter as are 

 the least disposed to rot, because it will last so 

 much the longer, and a less quantity will serve the 

 purpose of keeping the horses comfortable; at the 

 same time, the least putrescent of vegetable mat- 

 ters, and which on tha.t account are now scarcely 

 thought of as materials for manure, would be ef- 

 fectually decompopsd, and brought to the proper 

 stale to feed grov>?ing vegetables, by the contact and 

 chemical action of so lafge a quantity of rich ani- 

 mal matter. Thus it well deserve,? consideration 

 whether very great benefits might not be gained 

 by using as litter such new materials, as spent tan- 

 ners' bark, saw-dust, the empty hulls of cotton- 

 seed, (where hulled previous to expressing the 

 oil,) and the waste of cotton factories. Very large 

 quantities of one or more of these materials are 

 furnished in most of our towns — and which now 

 are thrown away into the rivers, or elsewhere, as 

 altogether worthless. If these, and all other ve- 

 getable litter still were deficient, and rich and diy 

 marl were cheap enough, that might substitute 

 litter in part; and the daily removal of the wet 

 portion, and the replacing it withirom halfabush- 

 el to a bushel of the clean and dry marl, would keep 

 the horses comfortable, and secure the hquid ma- 

 nure that would otherwise be lost. 



Some of these suggestions might be rendered 

 worthless, and others would be carried into use far 

 more beneficially if the main deficiency of materi- 

 als were supplied, in a ten-fold greater amount of 

 straw, leaves, or other vegetable litter from the 

 country. This would be best commenced il' some 

 individual, who is the owner of a town stable 

 and also of a neighboring farm, would profit by 

 these hints, and furnish both the demand and the 

 supply. He would have both parts of the trade, 

 and would make all the profit that it ottered, and 

 have no one to bargain with, or consult, but him- 

 self. But he would gain nothing more than would 

 any two persons, the one a stable owner, and the 

 other a farmer, who knew the values to be saved, 

 and would so agree to act that nothing should go 

 to waste. If the countryman would supply the 

 stable with good litter of any kind, (leaves, or 

 cornstalks, as well as straw,) and for remuneration 

 carry back a load of rich manure for every load of 

 litter, he would be making a most profitable ex- 

 change; and on the other hand, the stable owner 

 after paying away this manure, would have left 

 for sale m^orc in quantitj', and there would be more 

 of value saved in it, than in his entire stock as now 

 managed. 



The cultivators of farms within short distances 

 of our towns, have very great profits ofiered to 

 their acceptance, by their using properly the quan- 

 tity of manure to be obtained I'rom the town sta- 

 bles, (independent of all other, and untried sour- 

 ces) — but, they have availed but litde of their ad- 

 vantageous position, and cannot do much better, 

 without adopting some steps which are now al- 

 most totally overlooked and neglected. It is not 

 my present purpose to give directions for. applying 

 manures, or lor ffirm management — but consider- 

 ing the general deficiences, in these respects, it 

 would not be proper to omit stating that I consider 

 it essential to the profiting in the best manner by 

 town manures, that the following requisitions 

 should be fulfilled : 1st That the land is to be either 

 first made calcareous, or the putrescent matter 



