74 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 2. 



slowness, and the mixing them with animal matter 

 hastens the putrefactive fermentation. This mix- 

 ing of animal with vegetable matter is the pro- 

 cess employed for preparing the greater part of 

 the dung of the farm-yard. 



The dung of the farm-yard is the produce of 

 the hay, straw, turnips, and other substances used 

 as forage or litter upon the farm. It is collected 

 into one or more yards, and fresh litter and all 

 other refuse being added to the mass, it gradually 

 accumulates, until it is carried out to the fields lor 

 use. 



The manner of feeding cattle in their houses 

 and yards will be afterwards explained. It is suf- 

 ficient with relation to the present subject, to ob- 

 serve, that the larger cattle may either be fed in 

 stalls in close houses, or in yards in which they re- 

 ceive their food. When they are fed in close 

 houses, their dung and soiled litter are carried to 

 the heap in the yard, where it gradually accumu- 

 lates, and when they are fed in the yards, their 

 dung, in like manner, accumulates there, being in 

 the mean time compressed by their treading up- 

 on it. 



In the practice of the farm, to be afterwards 

 especially described as suited to the circumstances 

 of this country, the larger cattle of different kinds 

 are brought home to their houses and respective 

 yards before winter. Some are kept in their stalls 

 in close houses, and their dung and soiled litter are 

 carried out daily to the yards, whilst others re- 

 ceive their food in the yards themselves, and thus 

 tread upon the heap. In this manner the mass of 

 dung accumulates during the period of feeding, 

 and at the proper period, in the following spring or 

 summer is carried out to the fields and applied to 

 the land. 



The dung of the farm-yard is thus sure to be a 

 collection of animal and vegetable substances. It 

 consists of the. excrements of the animals kept and 

 fed upon the farm, together with the straw or other 

 materials used as litter, and generally of the refuse 

 and offal produced about the homestead. This 

 mixed mass is collected during the period of feed- 

 ing, when it undergoes a certain degree of fer- 

 mentation. When trodden by the feet of the ani- 

 mals kept in the yards, the effect is to exclude the 

 external air, and to prevent the fermentative pro- 

 cess from proceeding with that rapidity which 

 would take place were the mass not compressed. 



The principal animal substances which are 

 mixed with the ligneous fibres of the litter, and 

 which cause it. to undergo decomposition, are the 

 dung and urine of the animals. 



The properties of this dung, to a certain extent, 

 depend upon the kind of animals, and the nature 

 of their food. The dung of horses is easily fer- 

 mented, and is more readily decomposable in pro- 

 portion to the succulence and nutritive qualities of 

 the food consumed. This also holds with respect 

 to the dung of oxen. When the animals are fed 

 on straw and the dried stems of plants, the dung 

 is less rich and decomposable than when they are 

 fed on turnips, oil cake and other nourishing food; 

 and the same thing holds with respect to the dung 

 of the hog and other animals. The dung of the 

 different feeding animals is mixed in the greater or 

 less proportion with their litter, and the greater the 

 proportion of the animal to the vegetable matter, 

 the more readily will it ferment and decompose. 



The urine of the animals, again, is in itself a 



very rich manure, and contains, in certain states of 

 combinations all the elements which enter into the 

 composition of plants. It is necessarily mixed 

 with, and partly absorbed by, the litter and other 

 substances in the yards, of which it hastens, in a 

 material degree, the fermentation. 



The urine however, is apt either to make its 

 escape by flowing out of the yards, or to be im- 

 perlectly mingled with the litter. It becomes, 

 therefore, a part of the management of the farm- 

 yard, to provide against, either of these contin- 

 gencies. 



The farm-yard should be made level at the bot- 

 tom and paved if the sub-soil be loose and sandy, 

 and the bottom should be sunk somewhat below 

 the surface of the ground. As a portion of the 

 liquid will How from the stablesand feeding houses, 

 gutters of stone should be made to convey the li- 

 quid from these into tanks or other reservoirs ad- 

 jacent to the yards. The same means are to be 

 taken for conveying away any excess of liquid 

 from the yards themselves. This is not done for 

 the purpose of draining the yards of moisture, 

 which would be an error, but for the purpose of 

 preventing any excess or liquid from being lost. 

 The principal cause which produces a great flow 

 of liquid from the yards is an excess of rain, which, 

 falling upon the heap faster than it can be absorb- 

 ed, washes away the urine. 



Three methods may be adopted forthc manage- 

 ment of the liquid which is obtained from the feed- 

 ing houses, or which oozes or is washed off from 

 the mass in the yards. 



1. It may be pumped from the tank or reservoir 

 into which it had flowed, conveyed back to the 

 farm-yard, and spread over the surface of the 

 heap. In this manner it. will be imbibed by the 

 litter, and tend to hasten the decomposition of the 

 mass. 



2. It may be pumped up when convenient, and 

 conveyed in barrels to the field, and spread over 

 the surface, a species of manuring which, under 

 certain circumstances, is exceedingly efficacious. 



3. In the bottom of the tank or reservoir to 

 which the liquid is conveyed, may be placed ab- 

 sorbent earths, stems of plants and other matters. 

 These being saturated, will become very rich ma- 

 nure, and may either be carried from the tank to 

 the field, and applied to the ground, or put into 

 heaps or composts, until the period of using them 

 shall arrive. 



This method of collecting the excess of the li- 

 quid from feeding houses, and yards, is perhaps 

 the best in the common practice of the farms in 

 this country. In Flanders, where extreme care is 

 bestowed in the collection and preparation of li- 

 quid manures, there is a smaller proportion of 

 straw and hay produced on farms, than in the mix- 

 ed system of agriculture of Britain. There is 

 not, therefore, so great a proportion of ligneous 

 fibre to be decomposed. The Flemings, accord- 

 ingly, pursue the mode of managing their ma- 

 nure, which the circumstances peculiar to their 

 agriculture render expedient. They can always 

 ferment sufficiently the fibrous matter of the heap 

 of their farm-yards, and therefore they have al- 

 ways a spare supply of liquid in a separate state. 

 But in this country, where we aim on producing 

 a large quantity of hay and cereal grasses, we re- 

 quire nearly all the liquid from the feeding ani- 



