ESSEX SOCIETY. 91 



It would lead us beyond the limits of our present purpose, to 

 enter into the details of the preservation of the animal manures. 

 But we must be permitted to make a few suggestions, which 

 have been forced upon us by some years of observation, in this 

 and in other states. It is a very common practice to suffer the 

 manure from the barn to lie exposed for months to the winds 

 and the rains of summer and winter. Many farmers have no 

 arrangement by which the liquid and most valuable part of 

 stable manure is saved. And yet, under all these disadvan- 

 tages, they are too apt to congratulate themselves on having so 

 many loads of manure. They do not consider that it is the 

 quality and not the quantity, which adds richness to the soil. 

 The practice of digging a cellar under the barn, is becoming 

 more common among enterprising farmers, and it may be said 

 that the increased value and quantity of the manure, is enough 

 to pay for more than the interest of the extra expense. Pro- 

 tected manure is far the most valuable. But in cases where 

 this has not and cannot well be done, much of the real value 

 may be saved, by forming the yard so that nothing may escape. 

 Let peat mud and loam be thrown in, to absorb what would 

 otherwise be lost. Plaster occasionally thrown into the yard 

 is like money, — 1 will not say in the savings bank, — but rather 

 put to compound interest. In Flanders, where the greatest 

 economy is practised, the liquid of a single animal is estimated 

 at from ten to fifteen dollars a year. This applied as a top 

 dressing, has a surprising effect. 



No one should neglect to form a compost heap. It may be 

 so made as to form an extremely valuable article for top dress- 

 ing. A quantity of meadow mud should be dug out in the 

 autumn for this especial purpose. That this is indispensable, 

 will be seen from the fact, that two cords of peat mud, added 

 to one cord of good stable manure, will make a compound of 

 three cords, as valuable as clear barn manure. This has been 

 tried repeatedly, and is constantly done by those who are am- 

 bitious to excel in farming. To this compost heap should be 

 added, from time to time, all the animal and vegetable matter 

 adapted to ferment and enrich the soil. Woollen rags, the re- 

 mains of fish, the blood, flesh and hair of animals, all 



