FARMERS' REGISTER 



229 



MANURE} AND THE ILL EFFECTS OF DIRTY 

 STABLES. 



From tlic Farmers' Cabinet. 



The following judicious remarks on the preser- 

 vation of the urine of animals, have been extracied 

 from Hayward's Agriculture, and may be accepta- 

 ble and useful to tiie readers of the Cabinet. 



" The superior effect of putting the manure on 

 the land as it is produced, as stated by Sir H. Da- 

 vy to be the case with Mr. Coke, may be accounted 

 for as arising iiom the urine absorbed by the litter 

 which, if left in the usual way, spread in an open 

 yard, would have been wasted and lost." 



To show the fertilizing effects ofurine, Sir John 

 Sinclair says, " every sort of urine contains the 

 essential elements of vegetables in a stale of solu- 

 tion. The urine of a horse, being so much lighter, 

 would be more valuable than its dung, if both must 

 be conveyed to any distance. The urine of six cows 

 or horses will enrich a quantity of earth sufficient 

 to top-dress one acre of grass land ; and as it would 

 require four pounds worth of dung to perform the 

 same operation, the urine of a cow or horse is worth 

 about twelve shillings (.93) per annum, allowing 

 eight shillings per acre as the expense of prepaiinjj 

 the compost. The advantages of irriiiaiing grass 

 lands with cow urine, almost exceed belief. Mr. 

 Harley, of Glasgow, (who keeps a large dairy in 

 that town,) by using cow urine, cuts some small 

 fields of grass six times ; and the average of each 

 cutting is fifieen inches in length." 



In a note to the above, the author observes, that 

 "whilst recommending I he careful and effectual 

 draining of stablts, for the preservation of the urine, 

 as the most valuable part of animal manure, I will 

 also state a circumstance which cannot be thought 

 unworthy of notice to agriculturists, which occur- 

 red to me, to show how necessary this is also to 

 the health ofanimals. 



" I took possession ef some stables, with the 

 horses that had been some time kept in them, and, 

 to my misfortune, in a very short time I found that 

 horses kept in those stables had been subject to 

 the dreadful disease called the mad staggers for 

 several years. Some horses had died, and the 

 horses then there, and which had been for some 

 time kept in the stables, were in wretched condi- 

 tion. Two fine fresh horses which were put into 

 them were within a few months seized with the 

 mad staggers, and one of them literally killed him- 

 self by knocking his head about against the manger 

 and stall ; the other was saved by copious bleeding 

 and removed into a fresh stable, but was so redu- 

 ced as to be lessened in value one-half. My neigh- 

 bors advised the pulling down t he stables, consider- 

 ing the disease infectious ; but having, on going 

 into the stables early in the morning, been almost 

 suffocated and blinded by obnoxious gas, I exa- 

 mined the floor and drains, when 1 found the former 

 to consist of large burr stones, laid on a stiff clay ; 

 and the floor sunk so low below the drain, as not to 

 admit of the draining away of the urine. This 

 struck me to be a sufficient cause to affect the brain 

 of any animal confined in it, the same as it had the 

 horses. I therelbre had the floor taken up, relaid, 

 and properly drained ; and the walls and ceiling, 

 manger, cribs, &c. vvashed with quick lime ; and 

 from that time for ten years, 1 never had a diseased 

 horse." , 



The mad staggers is undoubtedly a violent in- 



flammation of the brain of the horse, produced, in 

 all probability, by inhaling noxious, acrid gases, 

 such as aietheproductof foul stables; for we never 

 see cases of this disease among horses that breathe 

 a pure, uncontaminated atmosphere. Horses 

 which are kept in confined stables in ciiies, where 

 the manure and urine are deposited in cellars un- 

 derneaih them, are most subject to this disease. 

 The remedy, or rather the mode of preventing the 

 disease, is s'o obvious, that every person who has 

 charge of so valuable an animal as the horse, 

 should be apprised of the importance of keeping a 

 clean stable, so as to insure a pure atmosphere, that 

 the lungs or brain may not suffer injury by inhaling 

 ammoniacal gas or spirit of hartshorn, which tends 

 to produce irritation and inflammation of the fine, 

 tender membranes, which line the nasal processes 

 and the lungs ofall animals. 



The disease called hollow horn in cattle, is in- 

 flammation of theintetior of the head and horns, 

 which communicate wiih the nasal processes, and 

 very probably proceeds from the same cause which 

 produces mad staggers and glanders in horses; to 

 wit, foul acrid gases, inhaled in sufficient quantities, 

 and lor a time sufficient to irritate the very delicate 

 membranous structure of the interior of the head, 

 so as to excite inflammation, and finally suppura- 

 tion, mortification and death. This is rendered the 

 more probable, as horses and cows when stabled are 

 generally enveloped in one common atmosphere, 

 and the disease does not often show itself till 

 the season is considerably advanced, when the foul 

 malaria has had a long time to operate on the ten- 

 der parts to which it is constantly applied while 

 breathing. Milk cows are generally more closely 

 confined than bulls or young cattle, and it is be- 

 lieved they are much the most li-equent subjects of 

 the disease. It is hoped this stibject will claim the 

 careful examination of all intelligent farmers, and 

 it is desired that their observations may be record- 

 ed and published, whether they go to sustain the 

 above theory or to destroy it. Of one thing we are 

 all certain, that to breathe pure, uncontaminated air 

 is more conducive to health, than to inhale that 

 which is foul and irritating to the lungs. An oc- 

 casional smell of a hartshorn bottle may not be 

 disagreeable or unwholesome, if it is not too con- 

 centrated ; but to be enveloped in an atmosphere 

 of it for half our time, during the winter season, 

 which is the case with a very large proportion of 

 our horses and cattle, cannot be expected to pro- 

 mote the healthy action of the system, but on the 

 contrary to produce disease and premature death. 



Agricola. 



EXTRACT FROM AN ADDRESS TO THE MIDDLE- 

 SEX (mass.) society of HUSBANDRY AND 

 MANUFACTURES. BY REV. H. COLMAN. 



From tlie New Genesee Farmer. 

 What constitutes national wealth? What are 

 commerce and trade and manufactures all concern- 

 ed with but the products of the field? A single 

 article of the produce of southern agriculture is 

 rated this year at 80,000,000 of dollars. But vast as 

 this value of the cotton crop may seem, it is little 

 compared with the value ofthe wheat and the corn 

 crop, and the amount of vegetables and grasses, of 

 dairy produce and ofpork, and beef, and wool, that 

 are required and produced for the use and trade of 



