1336.] 



F A RMERS' REGISTER. 



5S5 



visionary. No really bad odor prevails there; for, 

 although it may be offensive to delicate nostrils, 

 the air is always respirable. anil when not confined 

 in close stall*, by which ilie circulati »n is ; revent- 

 ed, no ill effects are ever known to arise from it. 

 Bat. when the cattle areeitherled upon fur 

 o her green load, the quantity of urine which they 

 discharge drenches such a quantity of straw, that 

 the beasts cannot be easily kept dry; or if they 

 be crowded in badly-arranged yards, and im- 

 mersed ia the filth proceeding from a scanty cover- 

 ingof straw, a': ! the want 



ry off the su| moisture, they may then in- 



deed be exposed to injury from ; . and the 



dang should be removed, though in i 

 case 'oace a month' wouid be lb 

 many instances the yards are never cleared until 

 the cattle are turned out after the close of th 

 ter; and, unless in a v ry plentiful . 

 straw, it is seldom done more frequently, after 

 th ey are shut up, than perhaps ones more in the 

 early part of the spring: except they be soiled du- 

 ring the summer, in which case it becom 

 quently necessary. When proper care has 



o prevent an excess of rain-water, the ma- 

 nure thus obtained (rem the bottom layer will 

 doubtless be found of superior quality; but the 

 •whole heap ought to be well mixed, in* order to 

 render it of equal value. 



An eminent agt hor, whom we 



have already quoted, complains that he has not, 

 in any one instanc -. !■ en able to find an; 

 like system in i he mechanic t. of the 



component jars of farm-yard mixens, which he 

 generally Ibund put together as tl 

 ing to circumstances, and without an; 

 rule. Hence it follows that their ; 

 manure can never be ilis'i 



mer, nor can be. annly that pr tvhich n 



more accurate knowledge of the contents would 

 enable, him to apportion to different kinds of grain, 

 orto the particular soils and seasons in which they 

 can be most advantageously applied. A hear, 

 for instance, compose;! entirely of dung from sta- 

 bles where horses have been plentifully fed with 

 corn, must be far superior to one produced by cat- 

 tle in the. straw-yard; yet so little is this very ma- 

 terial point adverted to, that nothing is more com- 

 mon than to hear of 'so many loads per acre' be- 

 ing laid upon the land, without regard to the. in- 

 gredients which it contains, though nothing i 

 more certain than that its power over the 

 will be in exact proportion to the qualities of the 

 materials of which it is composed.* 



This writer advocates the separation of the va- 

 rious species of manure, in order that the proper- 

 ties of each may be distinctly ascertained; yet 

 another author, of equal experience, says, in treat- 

 ing of Norfolk, 'that the, principal error in the com- 

 mon method of manufacturing firm-yard dung 

 originates in the prevailing custom of keeping the 

 dung arising from different descriptions of animals 

 in separate heaps or departments, and aj 

 the same to the land without intermixture, and 

 Consequently in an improper state.' He then al- 

 ludes to the difference arising in the manure from 

 the modes of keeping fatting and store cattle in 

 yards by themselves, 'while horse-dung is also 



usually thrown out at the stable-doors, and there 

 accumulates in large hea| s, which very soon ier- 

 ment and heal to excess;' he therefore recom- 

 mends that litter bespread over the 

 and the whole of the dung from \l ' yards 



and the hogstyes to be mixed fogethi i 



On these opposite o| inious we have to remark, 

 that, when either the soil or the intended crop is 

 essentially different, it may be very desirable that 

 the manure to be employed should possess dis- 

 tinct properties, and therefore, in such cases, a 

 portion of it should be se| arately kept, as w 

 differently pi 



require manures of a contrary nature; an ad- 

 vanced stage of their fermentation is in tome 

 cases less favorable to vegetation than in others; 

 and, in the instance of potatoes, it is well known 

 that stable-dung is employed with more effect 

 alone than when mixed. ft may, therefore, he 

 advisable that horse-litter in particular should be 

 separately kept in the yards, not merely for the 

 purpose just mentioned, but that, as being of a 

 hotter nature than any romniom dung, it may be 

 mixed with that of other cattle in such proportions 

 as may be thought best adapted to the purposes 

 for which the compost may be required. If no 

 better arrangement can be made, the litter should 

 be placed vvi hin some dry ditch, which will an- 

 swer the purpose of a more regularly constructed 

 pit, where its moisture may be maintained without 

 too greatly heating it, and without i :■: it to 



the evaporating action of the air. Tin s, if care 

 beat the same time taken to prevent it from becom- 

 ing dry, the f! ion will be checked; and 

 should it be thought expedient to still further re- 

 tard That operation, it may be effected by a mix- 

 ture of hog's dung, which, though rich, y- t I 

 of a colder nature, is less fei ible. By this 

 union the di imes decomposed into a soft 

 andpulp . hich firms a very powerful ma- 

 nure, and, by a little judicious management, can 

 be either promptly got ready or be kept back at 

 pleasure. 



Under other circumstances, however, and espe- 

 cially on small farms, where the quantity of ma- 

 terials may not be sufficient to allow of their be- 

 ing separated without incurring the risk of loss by 

 the excess of evaporation, or by the want of due 

 fermentation, it is found more generally expedient 

 to spread together all the different sorts of the 

 | dung of the lai als in different layers, so 



that each may be regularly mixed and partake 

 ally of the common properties of all, by which 

 means the faults of one species are corrected by 

 another; the too rapid fermentation of the dung 

 of horses is cl bile that of hogs and horn- 



rated, and thus the whole mass 

 acquires the enriching j roperties of the most fer- 

 tilizing compost. 



Prepared',!. n nf manure. 



Dung, thus indiscriminately thrown together, 

 being < of every species, whether from 



horses, pins, or black cattle, bedded with a little of 

 straw and haulm, to which every vegetable sub- 

 stance that can be collected round the house and 

 premises should be added, forms a combination of 

 fermentable matter of various kinds, which, with 



Malcolm s Modern Husbandly and Survey ot bur- * Blailrie on Farm-yard Dun-, edit. 1823. pp. 3, 5, 6. 

 rey, etc., vol. u. p. o. . . £ce aho the tfottmehamshire Report, p. 163. 



Vol. Ill— 74 



