186 



THE FARMERS REGISTER. 



pays a due regard lo his own interest, the health 

 and comlbrt of his horse, or to the most economi- 

 cal mode of mal<ing manure from that source, 

 is in any doubt as to how long this (stable) litter 

 ought to accumulate before it is removed; and 

 that is, that it should be rerijoved every day. The 

 writer of the essay is, however, "of the opinion 

 that it ought to remain until by its ^reat heat it 

 endangers the health ol the animal." On this, 

 I remark, that in the above sentence, I have 

 been very unfortunate. I labor under the mis- 

 fortune of not being understood. Now I ac- 

 knowledge that it is one of the first requisites ol' 

 a writer or speaker to make himself understood. 

 In this instance, however, I am so unfortunate as 

 to have failed. At this, I eonfess, I am a little 

 surprised ; for I used neither Li^tin, nor Greek, 

 nor Hebrew, nor any otlier dead language, but 

 the plain living English, and that too of the sim- 

 plest kind ; and yet Mr. Nicol has failed to un- 

 derstand me 7 He seems to think that the dan- 

 ger in the case must necessarily go so far as ac- 

 tually to produce the apprehended evil. Now I 

 never intended to convey any such idea, and I 

 did suppose that I had sufficiently guarded against 

 any such construction, by what appears in the 

 sequel. I intended that the litter should accumu- 

 late, and the decomposition go on, until the point 

 of danger was reached, and then arrest it, by re- 

 moving the whole mass. In the case of my 

 "stable management," we will suppose that the 

 heat increases, until a careful vigilant master sees 

 that the apprehended danger will soon issue in 

 the evil which he wishes to prevent, and prompt- 

 ly takes measures to arrest it; what misfortune, 

 let me ask, can ensue in this event? Danger 

 was incurred, it is true, but a timely preventive 

 was administered, and therefore no evil ensued. 

 But what is the object of supplying a stable with 

 litter? it is, according to my theory, two- fold, 

 first, to promote cleanliness, and second to in- 

 crease the amount of manure. And now the 

 whole matter is narrowed down to this one point. 

 By what management can manure be most ra- 

 pidly increased ? Is it, by daily throwing it out 

 in small quantities, as Mr. Nicol supposes every 

 body does, there to be evaporated by the sun, 

 or washed away by the rains, or torn to pieces by 

 the hogs? Or if the hogs will let it alone, till it 

 accumulates to a large amount, still to let it re- 

 main there, until full one half its virtues are de- 

 stroyed by fire-fang? Or is it, to let it lie in the 

 (Stable as i recommend, and, as I think, common 

 Bense recommends, safe from the sun, from the 

 rains, from the hogs and fire-fang, until the health 

 of the horse begins to be in danger, and then im- 

 mediately remove it for use? 



But on Mr. Nicol's plan, permit me to inquire, 

 what becomes of the liquids, which according to 

 late scientific authority is the very best part of 

 manure. According to Liebig, who by the best 

 farmers of Enjiland and America is now received 

 as a standard authority in scientific agriculture, 

 it is the ammonia which gives its chief value to 

 manisre, and this property is derived mostly from 

 the urine. But fi-om any thing that appears in 

 his strictures, Mr. Nicol lets the whole of this 

 run to waste. There is no litter to absorb if, 

 for it is all thrown out every day, nor is there 

 any cistern or tank to collect it. This important 

 article, then, imparling its chief value to manure, 



is, according to this wasteful farmer's plan, wholly 

 lost. No wonder then (see page 99) he had to 

 apply such very large quantities of marl, and 

 of burned shells, to keep up the fertility of 

 his land. Any man who will submit to such a 

 waste ai home, must resort to a large amount of 

 foreign material to supply ihe deficiency. In my 

 stable, I am happy to say, there is no such waste. 

 The liquids are colkcted, and the solids are pre- 

 served ; and this ie done, whilst the health of 

 the animals is carefully preserved. 



I am truly sorry that my mode of pen-feeding 

 cattle, conies also under the ban. To this plan, Mr. 

 Nicol objects, because he "has never yet been able 

 to secure that amount of cleanliness so desirable to 

 the health and comfort of the animals so led." As 

 a set-off to this, I remark, that I have never been 

 able to secure health and cleanliness on any other 

 plan. This very season. I wished to make a beef of 

 one of my steers, and that he might enjoy every 

 advantage, I confined him to a stall. I gave him 

 frequent supplies of litter, and at length was com- 

 pelled to adopt Mr. Nicol's mode of daily throwing 

 it out ; but still every morning one flank and 

 thigh of the poor beast was comepletely covered 

 with his own filth. Whilst this was the case, 

 the cattle that lodged in the pen, or selected their 

 own place under the shelter, were quite clean. 

 Besides, if Mr. Nicol will favor me with a visit, 

 and I should be very happy to see him, I will 

 show him what it seems is a s'ranger to him, a 

 cleaii farm- pen. But fearing that he will not accept 

 my invitation, I will tell him what sort of a farm- 

 pen I have. It is situated on a gentle declivity, 

 with a bank on the lower side, and through this 

 bank is an aperture, which I can open or shut at 

 pleasure. By shutting 1 retain the fluids, and 

 by opening I can discharge them, when they 

 become excessive. Now by this contrivance, 

 and by what I speak of in my essay, large sup- 

 plies of litter, (I mean large for a small farm,) I 

 actually have a clean and comfortable farm-pen ; 

 and if Mr. Nicol will fix his farm pen in the 

 same wa)'', I venture to say that he will have 

 cleaner and belter contented cattle than he now 

 has, when confined to their stalls. 



But he also reads me a lesson about my 

 hogs, and thinks my mode " of feeding will not 

 suit the judicious hog breeder." When I came 

 to this sentence, I was at once fully convinced 

 that Mr. Nicol did not know against whom he 

 was hurling his shafis. Why, sir, the hog busi- 

 ness is my strong forte. If I excel in any thing, 

 it is the skill with which 1 manage my hog de- 

 partment. JMy piggery with iis inmates is the 

 admiration ol ihe whole country. It is wel^orlh 

 a trip from Sandy Point to visit it. I have just 

 sold a fine young Berkshire boar just eight months 

 old for ^55, a pretty good price lor a small fjjrmer 

 these hard times. I still have fine boars and 

 brood sows, and thrifty shoals, and promising pigs. 

 One word more: my neighbors will laugh at Mr. 

 Nicol if he altempt to give me any more lessons 

 about breeding hogs. With these remarks I dis- 

 miss all that he says about my hog-management. 



But, as it appears to me, he is a little anxious 

 lo turn me into ridicule. Hence (page 137) lae 

 says, " I would ask the writer, when is manure 

 thoroughly, properly, fairly, fully made?" Now 

 I was not aware, till I saw all this array of epi- 

 thets brought together, that I had made use of 



