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sorts of cattle are kept. The sheep 

 should have a yard by themselves, 

 at least ; and the young stock an- 

 other, that they may be wholly 

 confined to such fodder as the farm- 

 er can afFard them. But the prin- 

 cipal yard may be for the cows, 

 oxen, calves and horses. And the 

 water from the well may be led in- 

 to each of these yards by wooden 

 gutters. 



If the soil of the yard be clay, or 

 a pan of very hard earth, it will be 

 the more fit for the purpose of 

 making manure, as the excrements 

 of the cattle will not be so apt to 

 soak deep into it. Otherwise 

 a layer of clay may be laid on 

 to retain the stale, and the wash 

 of the dung, which otherwise would 

 be almost entirely lost. 



Some farmers seem well pleased 

 to have a wash run away from their 

 barns upon the contiguous sloping 

 lands. But they are not aware 

 how much they lose by it. A small 

 quantity of land, by means of it, 

 may be made too rich. But the 

 quantity of manure that is ex- 

 pended in doing it, if otherwise 

 employed, might be vastly more 

 advantageous •, especially if it were 

 so confined as to be incorporated 

 with a variety of absorbent and 

 dissolvable substances ; and after- 

 wards laid on those parts of the 

 farm where it is most wanted. 



It is best, in this climate, that a 

 barn yard should be on the south 

 side of a barn. It being less shad- 

 ed, the manure will make the fast- 

 er, as it will be free from frost a 

 greater part of the year, and con- 

 sequently have a longer time to 



ferment in. The feet of the cattle 

 will also mix the materials the 

 more, which are thrown into the 

 yard, and wear them to pieces, so 

 that they will become short and 

 fine. 



After the yard is cleaned in the 

 spring, the farmer should embrace 

 the first leisure he has, to store it 

 with a variety of materials for 

 making manure. For this purpose, 

 he may cart into it swamp-mud, 

 clay, brick dust, straw, thatch, fern, 

 weeds, leaves of trees, turfs, marsh 

 mud, eel grass, flats, or even sand 

 and loam. If he cannot get all 

 these kinds of rubbish, he may 

 take such of them as are the most 

 easily obtained. Any of these sub- 

 stances, being mixed with the dung 

 and stale of cattle, will become 

 good manure. But some regard 

 may be had to the nature of the 

 soil on which the manure is to be 

 laid. If it be clay, the less clay 

 and the more brick dust and sand 

 will be proper : If a sandy soil, 

 clay, pond mud, and flats, will be 

 better ingredients. 



All the materials above men- 

 tioned, and many more that might 

 be named, will in one year become 

 good manure, by being mixed with 

 the excrements of the cattle, and 

 prevent the waste of them. And 

 this is thought, by the best writers 

 on husbandry, to be the cheapest 

 method a farmer can take to ma- 

 nure his lands, considering the 

 small cost of the materials made 

 into manure. 



If water should stand long in any 

 part of the yard, the manure must 

 be raked out of the water, and 



