152 



QL\)t JTarmcr's iHoutl)Ii) faisitov. 



gutter or trough, into wlilclj the manure nmy 

 drop. Some iihsorl)ent shonid he provideil to 

 lake u|) tlie iMiuid |)art of it, snch us swamp 

 mnck, saw dust, cliopped rjc straw, an<l the lit- 

 ter used ibr Itedding tlie cattle ; as exact and ac- 

 curate experiments have been made, and it has 

 been clearly deinonstrated that the liiniid part of" 

 the manure of a stock of cattle, when rightly 

 managed, is more valuable than the solid part of 

 it. The hovels should be daily cleared out, and 

 it would be well to sprinkle a small ijuaMtity of 

 ground plaster upon the hovel floor each day. 

 Tlie contents of the hovel should be put uniler 

 cover, so as to exclude it from tlie sun, wind, 

 roin and snow. 



If the faruier has no such shelter for his ma- 

 nure, one can be easily made by putting up 

 boards or slabs, standing one end upon the 

 ground and the other resting against the barn, so 

 88 to form a kind of roof over bis manure heap. 

 This plan, though rather primitive, will well re- 

 pay the expense and trouble in the increased 



value of the manure, rather than to salt it down, 

 as too many do, with first a layer of manure, then 

 one of snow — first one, and then the other, all 

 the while from thanksgiving in November till 

 fast-day in April, about which time it commences 

 thawing. The melting snow washes out a large 

 part of the soluble matter of the heap, and fre- 

 quently this rich material is allowed to course its 

 way down the gutter, by the road-side to the 

 brook, and is lost to the farmer. We have a 

 great many farmer* that manage in this way. 

 Now, gentlemen, did you ever hear a farmer who 

 manages thus, complain of short crops and hard 

 times? Well, if you have not, I have. 



What litter and manure accumulates in the 

 barn-yard during the winter, must of course 

 "abide the peltiiigs of the pitiless storms." We 

 should cuard against loss by drainage as much 

 as possible, by carting into the yard in autumn, - 

 materials to absorb the liquid, and if nothing 

 better is at liand, turf and loam fiom the road- 

 side answers a good purpose, or in other words, 

 is better than nothing. The yard should be 

 formed like a basin, " right side up" with care, 

 80 as to hold all that may accumulate, even in 

 times of heavy rains. Tlie liquid matter had 

 better dry away in the yard than to run of! in a 

 black brook. This is contrary to the practice of 

 some farmers, who have such an horror for vvct 

 yards, that they are found sloping, like the roof 

 of a building, or rounded up like an inverted 

 basin. 



The coarse litter and manure in the barn-yard, 

 if not carted out in the spring, should he pro- 

 tected through the simimer by having a coat of 

 muck or loam spread over it. To manage what 

 is made in the yard by the cows through the 

 summer, there are several ways. I will point out 

 three of them, and as 1 shall tax you nothing for 

 the recipe, you are at liberty to follow either pre- 

 scription. First, you can clean up the droppings 

 of the cows every day or two and pile them up 

 in a heap — mixed with two or three times the 

 amount of muck, or leaves. Or secondly, you 

 can have provided for the pmpose a few loads 

 of muck or loam in your yard, and throw u 

 shovel full over each heap of green manure eve- 

 ry morning. Or, thirdly, you can let it remain 

 scattered al)out the yard to dry up and waste. 

 Pursue this last coiu'se, and you will save a great 

 amount of time and labor, in carting out your 

 manure iii the fall, as there will be uuuh less in 

 quantity, and it will also he much poorer in 

 quality. 



In the management of the hog-yard and hack- 

 liouse, &c., I will simply relate the course I pur- 

 sue, ]iremising however, that I do not by any 

 means say that it is the best plan that can be 

 adopted ; but it was a plan that suggested itself 

 to my mind in the hurry and bustle of re-build- 

 ing a house, after being burned out some thirty 

 montlwago. Adjoining niy hog-house I have a 

 yard 18 feet by 14 — 1 excavated the soil about 

 fifteen inches deep, and made the bottom level, 

 then laid a good plaid< floor over it — the plank 

 irntnediately upon the groimd, and a close fence 

 around the yard. The bottom tier of tin; fence 

 is plank, as high «a the soil upon the out side of 

 the yard. Near tliis is the back-house: the sills 

 are two feet from the ground — instead of a vault, 

 f have a large tight box under it. Near by in an 

 outer room, 1 have one of my sinks — used most- 

 •Jy for «i)i))tying the soap-suds inli)— from the 



sink is a spout tliat conveys the su<l3 into the box, 

 froiii the box is another s|K)iit with a gate or 

 hatch-way to it, which by hoisting draws off the 

 contents of the box, beneiith the pi ivy into the 

 hog-yard. This is done every washing day, and 

 the liquid sprays over the yard, which issupplie<l 

 with a few loads of.muck or loam. I generally 

 make a practice of clearing out the yard once in 

 three weeks during the summer season, and fur- 

 nishing it with a new supply. Thus I obtain one 

 load a week, or from the hogs, the vault, an<l the 

 soap-suds of three weeks wash, I get three loutls 

 of the best manure 1 use iqion my farm. 1 throw 

 into the box every few days a quart or two of 

 plaster of paris, which in a great measure re- 

 moves any offensive smell by its converting the 

 carbonate of ammonia into a sidphate. Soap- 

 suds, every body knows, is a capital manure — 

 how much then is a band of soap worth for 

 manure.' it is worth none the less for manure, 

 after having been used to wash dirty clothes, if 

 it is only saved. 'Gather up the fragments that 

 nothing be lost," is a command as obligatory iq)- 

 on us, as it was upon the men who lived eigh- 

 teen centuries ago. 



But to digress a little from this. We hear, in 

 these times, much said about swamp muik, com- 

 post mauures^rail-roads and Texas. I shall not 

 say a single word iqiou the two last named sub- 

 jects, but shall endeavor to explain some of the 

 principles and objects, of composting manures. 

 "The researches of modern chemistry have 

 brought to light some fifty-five distinct forms or 

 modificatious of matter; each of which, in rela- 

 tion to the present state of our knowledge, must 

 be considered a simple or elementary body." 

 And only some fourteen or fifteen of these ele- 

 mentary substances are re<|uired for the produc- 

 tion, or enter into the composition of that end- 

 less variety of plants that grow upon this globe. 

 But few as they are, they are susceptible of an 

 infinity of chemical combinations, and of yield- 

 ing an endless variety of products. The names 

 of these substances are oxygen, hydrogen, nitro- 

 gen, and carbon. These are termed the organic 

 matters of plants. Potash, soda, lime, alumina, 

 iion, magnesia, manganese, silex, sulphur and 

 phosphorus, are the mineral or inorganic parts. 

 " Out of these is made every plant. Every part of 

 every plant, from the hyssop on the wall to the 

 mountain cedar, contains some or all of these." 

 During the growth of |)lants these several con- 

 stituents of plants are drawn from the air, water 

 and the .soil, and by various chemical changes 

 and combinations, by decomposition and recom- 

 position, these elementary substances are by the 

 unerring laws of nature so arranged as to form 

 that countless variety of plants and flowers, 

 fruits and seeds that beautify and adorn this 

 earth. "Reproduction and decay follow each 

 other's footsteps throughout the whole system of 

 nature, and the conditions of life and death are 

 mutually involved and dependent upon each 

 other." "The rotting of vegetable and animal 

 matters in manures is just the reverse of what 

 takes place when plants grow, or they are grad- 

 ually separated again into those very elements, 

 from which the plants were originally formed." 

 Now we all know if n qu.-mtity of stable manure 

 is thrown into a heap, fermentation soon takes 

 place — heat is generated — the rotting process 

 goes on — various gases the organic constituents 

 of the mass are set free, and rise into the air — 

 among these is nitrogen, one of the most im- 

 [lortant elements of fertility in tlie mauiiie, 

 which, with hydrogen, forms ammonia. There is 

 also carbonic acid produced, which readily com- 

 bines with the ammonia and forms carbonate of 

 ammonia — a siibslunce that gives so much value 

 to Guano as a manure. But the heat in the fer- 

 menting heap rarities tho gases, and thus being 

 specifically lighter than the surrounding air, they 

 rise into it, und are lost. Now to save these iin- 

 (lortant gases, we resort to composting our ma- 

 nures, with swamp muck — that is, half-rotted 

 vegetable matleis. They are capable of absorb- 

 ing these gases of the matiure — moderating the 

 heat, while at the same time the ammonia, which 

 like soda or potash is of an alkaline nature, neu- 

 tralizes the acid ipialities of the muck, and ren- 

 ders it suitable food for our crops. By this pro- 

 cess, it is the opinion of many good tiirmers, who 

 have practiced it, that the mixing ol" one load of 

 green maiiiue with two of swamp muck and let- 

 ting it rciuain a few months, reiulcrs llic \vliole 



espial to the same bulk of clear maiiore. Here 

 is one lijot that yoti should all remember, and 

 that i.s, that the fermenting, rotting or ilecompo- 

 sition of all vegetable iiiaitei.s produces an acid. — 

 This a'll our women know, for if they let their 

 <lough rise, or ferment too long, it becomes sour. 

 The prudent house-wile <loes not, however, 

 throw it out of the window, or gTve it to the pigs 

 because it is sour: no, she simply works in a lit- 

 tle sakeratus, and all comes right and sweet 

 again. 



What gave to these hills and vallies, these 

 plains and alluvions upon the banks ol' these two 

 rivers,* their original furtility, that enabled them 

 to produce such luxuriant crops of corn and 

 grain and hay .^ It was the decomposing and 

 decomposed vegetable matter that had been ac- 

 cumulating for ages. Bui, says one, I thought 

 you just told us that rolling vegetable niiillers 

 were always acid. So I did. But our fathers 

 felled and burned the heavy forest growth to 

 ashes — tliis neutralizes the acid, and heavy crops 

 succeeded. The organic mailer in the soil is 

 used up by a long course of cropping. Noiv we 

 want some of this matter back again upon our 

 fields. We can find it in our swamps — 'tis sour, 

 though. Well, potash, lime, soda, or manure 

 will sweeten it. Now here is one other thing I 

 wish you to remember, and that is, that all de- 

 composing animal matter produces an alkali — 

 that is, ammonia. Then the farmer should be 

 careful to cover up every accidentally defunct 

 animal upon his farm, from an elephant down to 

 a mouse, with five or six times its bulk of swamp 

 muck or loam : in a few montlis, the whole mass 

 becomes food for his plants, and is easily traus- 

 Ibrmeil into golden corn or grain — the luscious 

 peach and grape, or the fragrant rose or pink. 

 This hanging of dead lambs upon the forks and 

 limbs of trees about a farmer's premises, is a 

 (ilthy practice ; and one thai should not he toler- 

 ated. Some may say there is about this muck 

 business something a little too much like work. 

 Well, 'tis so fixed, that most of us have to work ; 

 and we shall give the best exhibition of our wis- 

 dom, by taking it coolly; and in making the most 

 of it. And I believe, a farmer will do better, 

 and make more money in the long run, by devot- 

 ing a few days each year, in collecting materials 

 tor, and making compost heaps of manure to 

 feed his crops, than he will to work out the same 

 number of ilays at tiliy cents per day. 



Now, gentlemen, 1 will relate to you a little of 

 my ex|)erience in this matter. In the liill of 

 1841, 1 had two neighbors — one of them kept a 

 pig and a cow — the oilier kept a cow and a jack- 

 ass, and not haviuir any laud to use the manure 

 upon, I bought it of them at four shillings per 

 cart-load ; and by scraping pretty close I got 

 three loads from ('ach yard. This was carted on 

 to my farm and tilled out of the cart in a long 

 pile. I then got eight or nine more loads of 

 swamp muck — first rate, and full of vegetable 

 matter. 1 jilaccd part of the muck u[)on each 

 side of the manure, and then commenced upon 

 one end, and threw it all up into a heap like the 

 roof of a house ; then covered it over wiili pota- 

 to-tops. It kept up a moderate heat thruugh 

 most of the winter, and did not freeze. .Vbout 

 the same lime 1 purchased at the stable seven- 

 teen cart-loads of manure, at one dollar per load, 

 a part of which was mixed with an cipial (pian- 

 tily of muck and removed through the winter. 

 The oilier part was piled up by itsell" During 

 the winter I sledded from my barn ten loads of 

 manure, uiaile from my horse, oxen and cows; 

 it was kept under cover till I hauled it on to my 

 liuiii, and piled up five loads in a heap. I had a 

 piece of laiul almui ihirty-six rods in length and 

 six rods in width, ploughed in October; the land 

 was poor and worn out. In .April 1842, I slack- 

 ed a cask of LT'.laug, or St.Ocorge's lime— (the 

 cask perhaps a ipiarter larger than the Kastern 

 lime casks) liy the side of the first named heap, 

 and while the new slacked lime was warm, 1 

 shovelled over the heap and mixed in the lime, 

 amounliiig to perhaps a little over a bushel of 

 lime to the cart-load of compost. Some four or 

 five weeks after this I carted leu loads upon the 

 piece of ploughed lanil, and manured two rods 

 in width, and thirty-six rods in length. On iho 

 two rods in the middle of the piece I put ten loads 

 of barn manure, before referred to. On the west 



'I'lu' MeTriiiiacli unit C'nnioorook. 



._.^. 



