590 



FARMERS REGISTER. 



[No. 10 



in ten days or a fortnight oi' which time it should 

 be very carefully turned. 



The operation of turning is also one that re- 

 quires circumspection. This is often neglected 

 until the heat of the mixen is quite spent, its fer- 

 mentation passed, and it. has become entirely rot- 

 ten. To which glaring error is to be added the 

 carelessness employed in that labor by servants, 

 who, in turning it over, usually begin at one end, 

 and throwing layer upon layer as they cut them 

 through, place them again in the same order in 

 which they found them, with this only difference, 

 that the part which was at the top now becomes 

 the bottom. Thus it has been justly observed by 

 Mr. Malcolm, that 'benefit which might have ac- 

 crued to each ingredient by the proper admixture 

 is infallibly lost, because the dung has been pre- 

 vented from infusing any of its saline particles into 

 the mould, and when laid upon the land, instead 

 of being a body of invaluable manure, they are 

 little better, as such, than as if each ingredient 

 had been immediately drawn from the beds out 

 of which they were originally taken.'* All this 

 may 7 , however, be easily avoided by cautiously 

 observing the probable state of the fermentation 

 of each heap, and by turning it completely over 

 either when it requires lightening or pressure; by r 

 narrowly watching the process, so that every part 

 maybe thoroughly shaken up, the clods and lumps 

 in the bottom, top, and sides, well broken, the ad- 

 hesive parts of the dung separated, and moisture 

 added; if necessary. When this process has been 

 attentively performed, it has been recommended 

 by Mr. JBlaikie 'to immediately plough several 

 furrows of the natural soil all around the heaps, 

 and with the loose earth ploughed up again coat 

 the heaps all over: the. pies will then take a gentle 

 fermentation; the. earth intermixed with, and co- 

 vering the dung will absorb the juices and gasses 

 of the dung, and the compost will come out in a 

 fine state of preparation tor using on turnip land.'t 

 From manure of this description, in which all the 

 materials are intimately blended, soaked with pu- 

 trid water, and decomposed to a degree of mellow 

 consistence; different sorts, to suit different soils 

 and crops, cannot indeed be taken; but perhaps, 

 with the single exception of potatoes, this one sort 

 of farm-yard dung, managed as above, may be 

 successfully applied to every crop, and to every 

 kind of soil. 



[To be Continued.] 



"facts" as to feeding work horses and 

 mules. remarks on management that 

 is not unusual. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Charlotte County, Va., ? 

 New Yearns day — 1836. $ 



Your call for "facts'" in one of the back Nos. 

 of the Register has not received the attention from 

 correspondents that it really deserves. Were I 

 disposed to find fault with your paper for any thing, 

 it would be, that so little is said about fads— even 

 in the small way noticed in this communication. 

 I was glad to see your eye directed to these things, 

 and would be still more rejoiced to see your columns 



Compendium of Modern Husbandry, vol. ii. p. G. 

 f On Farm-yard Manure, edit. 182S, p. 15. 



enriched with those things called facts — for 

 you know they are stubborn things, and cannot 

 be gotten over. 



First then, let me state a few that have fallen 

 within nly observation — perhaps others more use- 

 ful may be elicited from the bare mentioning of 

 these. That I should make a short crop of corn 

 twelve mouths ago last July, was a fact so plain 

 to be seen, that my overseer was directed to sus- 

 pend our old practice of giving the work-horses 

 corn three times a day; and having only a mode- 

 rate crop of oats, he was also directed 'to shorten 

 his usual allowance of tiiis most excellent and 

 perhaps the very best of food. His reply was (to 

 use his own expression, and 1 believe a common 

 one) "the teams can't be kept up on so small an 

 allowance." However, the fact was, my pros- 

 pect tor corn forbade a compromise — accordingly 

 we went to work with the determination to do the 

 best we could — (which was not to buy corn.) 

 My teams amounted to four horses and two mules. 

 My stock in trade, at gathering time, was about 

 fifteen barrels of old corn, and ninety barrels of 

 new — ten stacks of oats — ten of hay, and a few 

 bushels of wheat — a small stock of hogs, &c. &c. 

 My family numbers about two dozen eaters. 

 About eighteen months have now elapsed, and I 

 have just commenced on my crop of new corn- 

 nearly the whole of my last crop of wheat yet on 

 hand — all of the oats, and nearly all of the hay 

 now in the stacks — my family in good health — • 

 the teams and stock as fat as any in the neighbor- 

 hood — and all things promise to move on as usual. 

 But it will be asked "how was this done? Surely 

 the horses, and poor Cuffees especially, had a hard 

 time of it. This was abolition with a vengeance," 

 &c. &c. Well to the law and testimony. 



My practice, as to feeding the "poor Cuffees" 

 was as it always has been, viz: three and a half 

 gallons of meal per week — three pounds of bacon, 

 with what few vegetables could be had from a 

 very poor garden. The horses were fed j rincij ally 

 on oats, so long as the ten stacks lasted, which 

 was until the last of April — sometimes a little hay 

 or fodder, and occasionally the addition of five 

 ears of corn; but until last June, I think, it was 

 positively against orders that a horse should have 

 even that. When we commenced "laying by" 

 corn, (which time is here considered the hardest 

 of the working season,) they were allowed five 

 ears of corn at each feed; this lasted not more 

 than ten or fifteen days — for as soon as it was 

 practicable to cut clover, we gave to each horse as 

 much as he would eat in a green state: after the 

 crop of corn was "laid by," my horses never so 

 much as tasted corn, until here lately we begin 

 again to give five or six ears at a feed. They were 

 fed on clover alone as long as it was fit to feed in 

 the green state — then it was given well cured. 

 But, Mr. Editor, a fact worth recording, is, that 

 my mules for the space of sixteen months never 

 knew what corn was — eight months of which 

 time they were kept up on clover alone. Were I 

 to have mules the balance of my days, they 

 should never see corn again — unless in a freak of 

 good nature I might allow them to sweeten iheir 

 palate, if any they have, with an earortwoofgood 

 sound corn. The crop made under this manage- 

 ment was equal to, or better than my usual crops. 

 One of my neighbors being in the same predica- 

 ment, followed suit — his teams having been kept 



