1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



male, to moisten and ferment the general mass of 

 the farm-yard. 



When the animals of the farm are fed on tolera- 

 bly rich and succulent food, and when the propor- 

 tion of straw is not too large, there is no difficulty 

 in fermenting the mass of the farm-yard to the 

 degree required; but when the quantity of straw 

 is very large in proportion to the more moist and 

 succulent food consumed, as sometime occurs in 

 the case of clay land farms in certain districts, 

 then there may be considerable difficulty in getting 

 the straw sufficiently fermented and decomposed 

 for use. This may arise from Avant of moisture, 

 as well as from a deficiency of animal matter; and 

 as we may not at the time have the power of sup- 

 plying the latter, we must endeavor to keep the 

 heap moist by soaking it, in the absence of rain, with 

 water. But the permanent remedy for this evil is 

 to increase the quantity of such nourishing food as 

 the farm will produce — namely, cabbages, tares, 

 clovers, and other succulent and nutritive plants. 



Sometimes, even when there is no extraordina- 

 ry excess of dry litter, the fermentation of the 

 heap in the yard after proceeding to a certain de- 

 gree, suddenly stops, by which the manure is 

 much injured. This action is termed fire-fanging. 

 It arises from the want of moisture, and when it 

 happens it is often very difficult to renew the fer- 

 mentation. The best remedy is to turn over the 

 heap, soak it with water, and mix it with horse 

 dung, or any animal offal that can be obtained. 



With these exceptions, the management of the 

 farm-yard is not attended with any difficulty. We 

 have seen that the mass consists of a collection of 

 the excrements of the animals kept upon the farm, 

 of the straw and other substances employed for 

 litter, and generally of any refuse or offal produced 

 at the homestead; and that this mixed substance 

 is accumulated chiefly during the months of win- 

 ter, undergoing during this period a certain degree 

 of fermentation and decomposition in the yard 

 where it lies. 



The substance thus collected and partially fer- 

 mented, is to be applied to the grounds during the 

 months of spring, summer, or autumn, imme- 

 diately following the winter in which it has been 

 prepared. It should be always applied as soon 

 after it is prepared as possible, there being a waste 

 either in retaining it too long, or in causing it to 

 undergo a greater degree of fermentation than is 

 required. 



in the process of the putrefactive fermentation, 

 the elements of the body fermented, in assuming 

 their new forms of combination, partly make their 

 escape in the gaseous state. In the fermentation 

 of manures the decomposition may proceed so far 

 that the great mass of the substance shall be ex- 

 haled, leaving behind only the earthy and alkaline, 

 and a portion of the carbonaceous matter of which 

 it is composed. In the treatment of this class of 

 substances, therefore, the putrefactive fermenta- 

 tion should neither be continued longer, nor carried 

 to a greater degree than is necessary for the pur- 

 poses intended. 



In practice, our object is to produce certain kinds 

 of crops; and certain kinds of plants, it is found, 

 require a greater action of manures at particular 

 stages of their growth than others. Thus the 

 turnip, the carrot, and the beet, which are sown 

 as will afterwards be seen, in the early part of 

 summer, require that the manure applied shall be 



in such a state of decomposition as to act upon 

 and nourish them in the first stages of their growth, 

 and if this be not so, the crop may entirely fail. In 

 these and similar cases, accordingly, a complete 

 preparation of the farm-yard dung is an essential 

 point of practice. 



Certain plants, again, do not require the same 

 state of decomposition of the dung. Thus the 

 potato requires less in the first stages of its growth, 

 than the turnip, and hence it is not necessary to 

 subject the manure to be applied to the same de- 

 gree of fermentation. 



In some cases, too, as in the process of the 

 summer fallow, to be afterwards described, the 

 manure is mixed with the soil some time before 

 the seeds of the plants to be cultivated are sown. 

 In such case the manure undergoes the necessary 

 fermentation in the soil itself, and does not require 

 that previous preparation which, in the case of the 

 turnip and some plants, is required. 



But where no necessity exists for fermenting the 

 matter of the farm-yard beyond the degree requi- 

 site for the special purpose intended, it is always a 

 point of good practice to ferment it to that degree. 

 In order to know when dung is sufficiently fer- 

 mented for the particular use required, a very little 

 practice and observation will suffice. When it is 

 fully fermented, the long stems of straw which 

 formerly matted it together, are in such a state of 

 decomposition, that the parts can be readily sepa- 

 rated by a fork. It is not necessary in any case 

 that it be in that extreme state of decay in which 

 we often see it used by gardeners, and when it can 

 be cut with a spade like soft earth. Whenever 

 farm-yard dung has been fermented to this degree, 

 it has been kept beyond the proper time, and the 

 management has been bad. 



The mass, we have seen, is collected chiefly 

 during the months of winter, and will always be 

 ready to be applied to the ground in the spring, 

 summer, or autumn immediately ensuing; and 

 there is no case in which it is advisable to keep it 

 beyond the year in which it has been collected. 



The common and convenient practice, is to car- 

 ry it out from the yards where it has been collect- 

 ed, to the field where it is to be used, and there to 

 pile it up in one or more large heaps, so that it may 

 undergo the further decomposition required, be- 

 fore being applied to the land. 



When, accordingly, after the dead of winter, as 

 towards the end of December, and during hard 

 frosts and snows, the men and working cattle 

 upon the farm cannot be otherwise employed, we 

 may begin to carry out the dung to the fields 

 where it is to be used. It is carried out in the car- 

 riages of the farm, into which it is lifted by large 

 forks to be afterwards described. This partial 

 carrying out of the dung from the yard proceeds 

 when occasion offers, or when the state of the 

 weather prevents the other labors of the farm 

 from being carried on. And when the feeding 

 cattle are finally removed from the houses and 

 yards, and turned out to pasture, which, in the^ 

 north of England, is generally by the middle of 

 May, the whole remaining dung may either be 

 carried to the fields, or remain in the yards till re- 

 quired for use. 



The dung, as it is carried out to the fields, is to 

 be laid in the large heaps, which may be about 

 four, and four and a half feet high, and of such 

 other dimensions as may be convenient. When 



