78 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



early spring the manure usually contains a much larger amount 

 of water, making it more laborious to handle and heavy to draw, 

 and the fields are soft, so that the wagon draws heavily and at 

 the same time the land is damaged. I think that I can reduce 

 the labor of drawing out the manure one-half by proper handling 

 and leaving it to be taken out in August, and this saving will 

 pay for all the work of handling. 



My plan of management is this : If we find in April that the 

 cattle are not likely to reduce the straw stack, we help them by 

 cutting down or pitching off from the top, or if we need it, we 

 draw the remainder of the stack to the barn. Our barn-yard is 

 now covered with a coating from one to three feet deep, com- 

 posed of the droppings of the cattle and the manure from the 

 stable, mixed with the straw and corn stalks, and all tramped 

 down solid. The first heavy rain that comes after corn-planting 

 which makes the land too wet to work and thoroughly soaks the 

 contents of the barn-yard, we put all hands at work turning 

 it over. We take pains to shake it up well and to see that there 

 are no dry spots, and throw it up in ridges four or five feet high, 

 drawing them in at the top so as to favor fermentation. We 

 make these ridges parallel, so that at a second turning we can get 

 two of them together into a bed. If we find fermentation be- 

 coming too rapid at any time, we level the tops of the piles and 

 tramp them, or what is easier done, let our hogs into the barn- 

 yard and feed them on the tops of the piles a few times. Any 

 time within a month when we have another rain to stop field 

 work, we turn the manure again, taking great pains to fine it as 

 much as we can and to get it into as large beds as possible. 

 This time we leave it flat on top and think it a great advantage 

 to dip some strong manure water over it. If we expect to thrash 

 early, we at this time try and make room for stacking the straw 

 from the new crop, and sometimes to do this we must draw out 

 a part of our manure and pile it convenient to where it will be 

 needed. We have generally turned our manure but twice, but I 

 am so thoroughly convinced of the value of fine manure that I 

 intend giving it an extra handling in the future. "What! handle 

 your manure three times before hauling out?" Yes, and at a 



