FARM BUILDINGS. 



331 



down the general principle, that economy of la- 

 bor in preparing the crops for market, and in 

 administering such portions as are to be used on 

 the farm, is to be regarded as a primary consid- 

 eration. That they should be so constructed, too, 

 as to aflbrd warmth, good bedding, and a full 

 supply of wholesome air and pure water; with 

 the least exhaustion by exposure to cold air and 

 to exercise in which no equivalent sustenance 

 ia obtained. Then another point of the highest 

 importance is such arrangements, fixtures, and 

 management, as shall tend to the greatest accu- 

 mulation of the best manirre. 



Surely the farmers, or at least, we are proud 

 to believe, such fanners as patronize this work, 

 are not now to be reminded of a truth long 

 maintained by Philosophers, that in this world 

 nothing is lost. Many things change form, but 

 all are reproduced. If their elements were des- 

 tructible, the material world would be exhausted. 

 It is the business of the judicious and vigilant 

 farmer to have that reproduction, with what in- 

 crease of fertilizing matter he can, take place on 

 his own estate — to take care that every parti- 

 cle that his land lends for the support of his 

 crops, shall be returned with interest^'^else may 

 he abandon all hopes of improving it. If not 

 restored it ^vould be, in time, as certainly woni 

 out as the material world would itself be if 

 Providence had not taken care that, while every 

 thing is changing form and falling into dissolu- 

 tion, nothing is cxtingvishecl. One spot catches 

 what is lo.st by another, and the whole difference 

 between good and bad management consists in 

 the difference between restoring, or not restor- 

 ing to one's land, those elements of fertility 

 which are so constantly carried off, directly in the 

 form of the corn, hay, straw, grain, tobacco, and 

 other crops, v\hich are sold off the farm, or indi- 

 rectly, after the.se same articles have assumed the 

 form of hogs, sheep, horses, cattle, poultry, &c. 

 In explanation of this maxim of ancient philo- 

 sophy, that nothing is lo.st, and of the practica- 

 bility of restoring all to the Farm, hear Lie- 

 big again : 



" One part of the crops emploj^ed for fatten- 

 ing sheep and cattle (he observes) is consumed by 

 man as animal food ; another part is taken direct- 

 ly as flour, potatoes, greens, vegetables, Ac; a 

 third portion consists of vegetable refuse and 

 straw employed as litter. None of these mate- 

 rials of the .soil need be lost. We can, it is ob- 

 vious, get back in the solid and fluid exuviaj of 

 men and animals, and in the bones, blood, and 

 skin of slauglitered animals, all the constituent 

 ingredients of the consumed food, soluble and 

 irisolublc. It depends upon ourselves cai-efully 

 to collect all these scattered elements, and to 

 re.store the disturbed equilibrium of composition 

 in the soil. We can calculate exactly how 

 much, and which of the component part.s of the 

 soil we export in a sheep or an ox, in a quarter 

 of barley, wheat or potatoes, and how much we 

 have to supply to restore wiiat is lost to our 

 (69.ll 



fields, * * * « t * If the manure supplies 

 an imperfect compensation for this loss, the fer- 

 tility of a He'd or of a country decreases; if, on 

 the contrary, more is given to the fields, their 

 fertility increases. An importation of urine or 

 of solid exuviffi fi-om a foreign country is equi- 

 valent to an importation of grain and cattle; for 

 in a certain time the elements of those sub- 

 stances assume the form of grain or of fodder, 

 then become flesh and bones, enter into the hu- 

 man body, and return again, day by day, to the 

 form they originally possessed. The only real 

 loss of elements we are unable to prevent is of 

 the phosphates; and these, in accordance with 

 the customs of all modem nations, are deposited 

 in the grave. For the rest, every part of that 

 enormous quantity of food vi-hich a man con- 

 sumes during his lifetime, (say in sixty or seven- 

 ty years,) and which was derived from the fields, 

 can be returned to them. We know, with ab- 

 solute certainty, that in the blood of a young or 

 growing animal there remains a certain quantity 

 of the phosphate of lime, and of the alkaline 

 phosphates, to be stored up and minister to the 

 growth of the bones and general bulk of the 

 body; but that, with the exception of this very 

 .small quantity, we receive back, in the solid and 

 fluid excrements, all the salts and alkaline bases, 

 all the phosphate of lime and magnesia, and 

 con.sequently all the inorganic elements which 

 the animal consumes in its food ; and what is 

 not thus directly given back, the air takes up 

 and gives back. 



As to the arrangements of the barn-yard with 

 an eye to the preservation of manure. Although 

 we are fully impressed with the value of eveiy 

 quart of liquid maimre, and think it a just subject 

 of reproach to everj^ fai-mer who loses one drop 

 that he can save, we have our doubts about the 

 expediency of "building tanks, for the use of or- 

 dinary farmers. Doubtless it ^vould be very de- 

 sirable, and ought to be provided for by those 

 who have the means ; but we apprehend there 

 must be much expense in the beginning and 

 more labor in lifting and spreading than most 

 fanners in this countrj' can afford. 



On the subject of manure, its management 

 and preservation, we think the considerations in 

 the following extract are worthy of nil attention : 

 " For the successful preparation of tliis indi.=pen- 

 sable material without waste, all are agreed that 

 it should be protected from the weather, and that 

 all the animal excrements, liquid and solid, .should 

 be preserved in it. For this purpose, again, a 

 covered area seems much better adapted than 

 open yards in which the sun, wind, and rain, 

 rob the farmer of many a pound in the course 

 of the year On the contrary, where the liquid 

 manure is conveyed to a proper receptacle by 

 underground drains, and the solid parts are con- 

 stantly carried to a proper spot which is cover- 

 ed over, no lo.ss of valuable matter is sustained. 

 The system of running the liquid manure into 

 underground tanks has been much recommend- 

 ed, but when collected in these it requires much 

 labor to pump it out again, and mix it with some 

 porous material, such as dry earth, ashes, dung, 

 &c. ; besides the outlay in forming the tanks, 

 and the wear and tear of pumps constantly liable 

 to corrode and become chnked. Hence it ap- 

 pears to me, that the best arrangement would 

 be to secure sucli a fall from the cattle sheds. 



