128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



in the best possible manner?" I will call upon Mr. Sage of 

 New Braintree to give his opinion upon that. 



Mr. Sage. I think, under ordinary circumstances, it 

 would hardly be necessary to cement a barn cellar. It may 

 be well enough for fancy farmers, where they have plenty 

 of money to do it ; but ordinarily I think if our farmers 

 will cart in enough absorbents to take up the liquid that 

 accumulates in the barn cellar, it will be all that can rea- 

 sonably be expected. 



Mr. Thompson. My barn cellar is cemented on the bot- 

 tom, but not on the sides. I find that, if I am not very 

 careful to bank up on the sides, the liquid will begin to run 

 out very soon. I think, if we want to save all the liquid, 

 we should cement both the bottom and sides, and have the 

 cellar perfectly water-tight. 



Secretary Sessions. We would like to hear a word from 

 Mr. Newhall on this important question. 



Mr. Newhall. As far as concerns my own cellar, I do 

 not think it is necessary to cement it. The soil is a com- 

 pact hard-pan. We use a large amount of absorbents, and 

 in the spring we have to draw out a great deal of liquid. 

 We go in with a cart with a large hogshead on it, and draw 

 it out. I do not think it leaks at all without any cement. 

 Mr. Howe. I would suggest that George Marsh of 

 Dudley is able to give you information on this subject. He 

 has had large experience. 



Mr. George Marsh of Dudley. My way of handling 

 the liquid manure for the last five or six years has been by 

 running it oft* into a cistern outside of my barn cellar. 

 The cistern is large enough to hold the accumulations of a 

 year, and about the last of May or the first of June I use it 

 for top-dressing my grass land. I have not been able to 

 apply anything that shows so plainly where it was placed 

 as this liquid manure. 



Question. Do you use a sprinkler to put it on with ? 

 Mr. Marsh. I take the body off of my cart, and I have 

 built a platform some six feet in width which I put on the 

 wheels, and on this platform I have a large hogshead which 

 holds perhaps as much as two or three ordinary hogsheads. 

 I cart out the liquid in that way. That hogshead has a 



