IS3S] 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



403 



eecond, by which menns the dung arising from 

 different, descriptions of animal? is i<epl apart, and 

 is uitimalely ap|)lieil to the land -.viihoni inlermix- 

 lure, and as to ihe horse dnnir, ihn. residue of it 

 which is left from fire-limg andcharriri<i;, \z consi- 

 dered strong dunir, and as it is generally nnder- 

 slood that a smaller portion of it ihan of common 

 yard dung will answer the intended purpose, it is 

 usually (as a point of economy) to save carriage, 

 taken lo the most distant pans of the iarm, and this 

 very IrequenMy without any reference to the na- 

 ture of I he sod (whether clay or sand) to which 

 it is to be applied. 



Dung he.ips lormed in the manner I have des- 

 cribed, (when the dung is good lor any thing) 

 very soon ferment to a violent ilegree. The gas- 

 Bcs ascend and evaporate; tiie juices, alas! in 

 place of ilescending into the hard beaten clay bot- 

 tom, as was expecietl, ooze out at the side ol' the 

 heaps, and are soon drietl up and lost. In a short 

 time the lermentation subsides, and leaves the 

 centres of the beaps burned or charred, while the 

 oalsides of the heaps are dried up to chips by the 

 natural effects ol" sun and wind. In this slate 

 these miserably mismanaged heaps of dung remain 

 until the near approach of the turnip sowing sea- 

 eon ; they are then turned over, and the clay 

 bottoms mixed with the dung; a partial lermen- 

 laiion succeeds, (and ibis turning and mixing the 

 botiorns tbrm the only rational part of the manu- 

 facturing process,) ibr by this improvident system 

 the quality of the (bmg is not only materially de- 

 teriorated, l)Ut the quiuitiiy very much so, that by 

 the time the liu'mer bas sown half his turnips, 

 he finds his dung expended: lie has then re- 

 course to oi'.-cakc, or [)erhaps sows a pan of bis 

 turnips wiihout any manure at all. il" the soil is 

 of a nature to proilucc turnips almost sponiane- 

 ously, there will be a crop even under the worsi 

 management ; but when not of that happy admix- 

 ture, and managed as I have before described, il 

 follows as a matter of course that tiie crop fiils : 

 nevertheless the fiu-mer is so much ofa philosopher, 

 that he consoles himself with the idea ihat he has 

 done bis duty by the land, believin<r that it is na- 

 turally so unkind for turnips, that it would be a 

 perfect miracle if he was to have a good crop of 

 them upon such land. 



And here I must beg leave to apologize for the 

 high coloring of the foregoinir strictures. It is 

 certainly neither my wish nor intention, more than 

 my duty or interest, to give offence to the respec- 

 tat)le body of men to whom I may be considered 

 as applying the Ibregoing observations; but I 

 consider it in some degree necessary Ibr my pur- 

 pose lo rouse the feelings to a spirit rf inquiry, 

 and having done so, I ask the candid observer to 

 take an impartial view of Ihe subject, and say 

 wliether these things are so? ! may be told, that 

 to speak the truth is m some cases a libel ; il so, I 

 stand convicted; however, if in speaking the truth 

 in the present instance, I provoke an inquiry which 

 niay in the result terminate lo the advantage of the 

 parties concerned, I slial! consider myself a fortu- 

 nate railer indeed, however uncourteous ray re- 

 marks may appear. As it is a failing in human na- 

 ture lo too frequently misinterpret our friends' best 

 intentions, particularly where people cannot bear 

 to be told of their faults; and as it is more easy to 

 eee others' faults than one's own, I will take it for 

 granted, that the majority of the readers of the fore- 



going observations consider them more nppiicable 

 to their neighbor's sjstem of management than lo 

 their own. t am, hou-ever, not uiihi ui hopes, th it 

 some lew lil)eral minded, unprejudiced men, uill 

 acknowledge at once that ihe cap (iis ihemselvi-s, 

 i\m\ frG7n such men I entertain the greatest hopes 

 of improvement. 



Having |)oinl(-d out what I consider the princi- 

 pal errors in the prevalent or common nieihod vi' 

 liusbaiiding farm-yard manure. I will now en- 

 deavor to explain my ideas of what I consider ri 

 more perfect sysiem and if I nm correct in Ihe o|,i- 

 nion I have lormed on the sutiject, I will venture 

 lo say, there can be no difficulty in producing 

 upon the farm a sufficient quantity of yard muck or 

 compost to manure the whole of the turnip land 

 upon any liu'm, in a medium slate of leriiliiy, ciil- 

 tivriled upon the four-course husbandry; and if 

 my premises are correct, the occupier may thea 

 reserve tlie whole of bis stipulated quantity of oil- 

 cake for bis wheat crop, that description of manure 

 being certainly more adapted to the wheat tlian to 

 the turnip crop. 



As the great object I aim at in Ihe following 

 hints is to i:n[)rove the quality as well as lo in- 

 crease the quantilj' of liArm-yard manures, I 

 strongly recommend, indeed I consider it indispen- 

 sably necessary, that all descriptions of (arm-yard 

 dung should, in the first iiislance, be as inlimalely 

 mixed together as possible, and Ibat pariicniar 

 attention should be paiti to the husbandiuir of the 

 horse dung, whicli should wiihoul fiil be removed 

 daily into the siore caiile yards in ihe manner I 

 have previously recommended. An abmidant 

 sto(d< of pigs should always be kept in the yards — 

 no dry straw should be left lo blow about lbes:ac!c 

 vnrds ; all should he broiiifhi inio ihe catlle yarils. 

 Nettles, ibisiles, and other coarse weeds (not in 

 seed) should be l)rougI;t info the yanls, and not 

 allowed to die and waste in ihe fields and di'cheg 

 when they are cut down. The liorses kept on the 

 firm should be fed wiih green (bod in the yards in 

 the summer months, and they should also lie al- 

 lowed to run l(Jose in the yards in wii;tcr, having 

 stables or sheds to go inio at pleasure. The yaul.-', 

 siables, and sheds should at all limes be kept well 

 litlered wiih siraw. The soap lees from ihe larm- 

 ho'ise should be carefull}' preserved, and thrown 

 upon the dung in the yanls — saw-dust, leaves of 

 trees, road scrapings, scourinjisof diiches, in short, 

 all animal and vegetable substances slioii.'d be 

 carefiilly collected and thrown into ilie farm-yard. 



When it is (bund necessary to empty the dung 

 yards earhj in the season, whether with a vi^nv lo 

 UK"; ke room in the yards, lo expedite spring work, 

 or employ the teams in unfavorable weather, vvbeii 

 they could not otherwise be employed toadvantaire 

 upon the tiirm, I recommend that pref)araiioiis 

 should be made in llie usual maimer (lirlbe recep- 

 tion of the dung heaps in iiie iniended turnip fieiils, 

 viz. ity colleciinnr larjre beaps of clay, mail, op 

 such other mn'erial. The boiloms for the hfa[m 

 should not be laid above six or eiL''bt inches iliiik 

 of the material, and a lariie quaniiiyof it lo be. 

 placed in rows on each side of tiie bottoms marked 

 out— the dung should then be drawn out of the 

 yiirds, and placed upon the bottoms, but not in the 

 usual way of throwing il up loosely to c^use fer- 

 mentation, on the contrary, by drawing the cans 

 with their loads upon the heaps, for the purpose of 

 compressing the dung, and tliereby preventing 



