STE 



STE 



425 



upon the heap through spouts 

 runs in currents, and is not equail} 

 sprinkled over a heap hke rani, 

 which is nature's process in thi.^ 

 business. To obviate this diffi- 

 culty 1 have constructed a very 

 simple machine which answers per- 

 fectly. The stone piers which 

 support the beams of the barn, di- 

 vide the cellar lengtti ways into 

 three equal compartments. I have 

 a box six inches deep, four feet 

 wide, and about thirteen feet long, 

 which runs by means of wheels, 

 upon a sort of wooden rail way, 

 made by strips of planks and fixed 

 about a foot fron) the floor of the 

 barn ; this is perforated with suita- 

 ble holes. A permanent spout 

 extends through the middle of the 

 cellar, and a moveable spout ex 

 tends from this to the perforated 

 box — regular openings are made in 

 the permanent spout, which may 

 be closed at will. — It is also closed 

 at the end. By these means, the 

 box is tilled from the reservoir and 

 pump, and each part successively 

 irrigated perfectly and with great 

 ease. A man by two days labour 

 can irrigate my whole cellar, and if 

 effectually done, thrice in a season 

 is sufficient." 



The following humerous exhibi- 

 tion of the faults of some farmers, 

 as respects the economy of their 

 barn yards and stercoraries, is ex- 

 tracted from " An Address tb the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Society, 

 by Hon. Josiah Quincy. 



" As we proceed to the farm, we 

 will stop one moment at the barn 

 yard. We shall say nothing con 

 cerning the arrangement of the 

 barn. They must include comfort, 

 54 



convenience, protection, for his 

 stock, his hay, and his fodder, or 

 they are little or nothing. We go 

 thither for the purpose only of 

 looking at what the learned call the 

 stercorary, but vv hich farmers know 

 by the name of the manure heap. 

 What is its stale ? How is it lo- 

 cated ? Some times we see the 

 barn yard on the top of a hill, with 

 two or three fine rocks in the cen- 

 tre ; so that whatever is carried or 

 left there, is sure of being chiefly 

 exhaled by the sun, or washed away 

 by the rain. Some times it is to 

 be seen in the hollow of some val- 

 ley, into which all the hills and 

 [leighbouring buildings precipitate 

 their waters. Of consequence all 

 its contents are drowned, or water 

 soaked, or what is worse, there hav- 

 ing been no care about the bottom 

 of the receptacle, its wealth goes 

 off in the under strata, to enrich 

 possibly the antipodes. 



" Now all this is to the last degree 

 wasteful, absurd, aiid impoverish- 

 ing. Too much cannot be said to 

 expose the loss and injury which 

 the farmer thus sustains. Let the 

 farmer want whatever else he 

 pleases. Bat let no man call him- 

 self a farmer, who suffers himself 

 to want a receptacle for his ma- 

 nure, water-tight at the bottom, and 

 covered over at the top, so that be- 

 low nothing shall be lost by drain- 

 age, and above, nothing shall be 

 carried away by evaporation. Let 

 every farmer, wanting such protec- 

 tion for his manure, be assured that 

 he loses by the sun and rain, ten 

 fold as much as will pay all his tax- 

 es, state, town, and national every 

 vear. I-et not the size of his ma- 



