ANIMAL MANURES. 1 23 



flowing away unheeded into the sewers ; and in the hot days 

 uf summer, the pungent odours which are given out from the 

 carelessly heaped together contents of the stables, will show 

 you that the farmer, ignorant of his profession, is uncon- 

 sciously allowing the most active matters of the manure to 

 escape into the air. 



181. Management of farm-yard manure. To secure all 

 the good qualities of the fertihzing substances collected 

 together in the manure heap, it will not do to leave it to 

 chance. You must not allow the air to run away with one 

 part, and the rain with another part, of its most useful 

 matters. It is of the utmost importance that you carefully 

 preserve and restore every particle of the materials abstracted 

 from your fields. All the arrangements of the farm-yai'd 

 and offices should be made subservient to this purpose, and 

 the money expended in providing a proper receptacle for the 

 manure will be fully repaid in the increased luxuriance of 

 your crops. 



You should not, as too frequently done, allow the manure, 

 upon its removal from the cow-houses and stables, to be 

 spread over the faim-yard, but' have it immediately carried 

 to a place prepared for its reception, at a convenient distance 

 from the office-houses. This dung-stead should, if possible, 

 be placed in the north side of the farm-yard, and if the 

 ground be porous, it should be puddle 1 with clay and paved, 

 so as to be rendered completely water-tight. It is not ne- 

 cessary that it be excavated below the surface of the yard, 

 but it should be made to slope, so that the liquid which 

 escapes from the manure may flow into a water-tight reser- 

 voir provided for its reception. In some of the best agri- 

 cultural districts on the continent, the manure-stead is sepa- 

 rated into two divisions by a tank, usually about four feet 

 deep, and of breadth proportionate to the size of the heap; 

 the sides and bottom of this reservou* are well puddled with 

 clay and lined with masonry; and the more effectually to con- 

 vey into it all the drippings from the manure, the sides of the 

 heap are surrounded with a paved channel. At one extremity 

 of the tank a strong wooden pump is fixed, by which the 

 liquid can, at pleasure, be discharged over the manure, by 

 means of a canvass hose, or wooden spouts, or pumped into 

 casks to be conveyed to the fields. 



All the farm buildings should be spouted, and the water 



