32 Oravge County Manures. [Jan., 



sides, forming a sort of basin, capable of containing all the wash 

 of the yard and stables. 



Its preparation. — The bottom of the yard should be either 

 paved or covered with a layer of clay, well packed down, so as 

 to be as near as possible water tight. Into it, then, is to be 

 thrown all that is wasted in the house or barn. A good supply 

 of vegetable matter should be kept there, such as straw, weeds, 

 chaflf, or peat, of which we shall speak hereafter. Drains must 

 be made from the stalls of the cattle and horses, by which all the 

 urine shall be carefully brought to be mixed with the contents of 

 the yard. Here also must be thrown the dung from the stalls, the 

 hog-pen, and the hen-roost. Ever^' thing which has ever helped 

 to form a plant, or an animal, must be brought in here to undergo 

 decomposition, in order to fit it to become a plant again. 



Some would advise the construction of a vat in the lower part 

 of the yard, into which all the liquids will flow, and from which 

 they can frequently be pumped and distributed over the solid con- 

 tents of the yard. And to this recommendation there is a good 

 deal of force, when all the advantages of a barn yard constructed 

 on this plan could be appreciated and used. Thus the repeated 

 application of the liquids from the vat would aid in the rotting 

 of the straw and litter, and the liquids would also be absorbed 

 and retained by the spongy' mass thus produced. The excess of 

 liquid would then flow back into the vat, whence it would be re- 

 peatedly drawn as it was required to wet the contents of the 

 yard, and the surplus, in the spring, could be carted out in casks, 

 and sprinkled over the fields. 



Too little value is placed on the liquid manures of the yard 

 and stables. No pains are taken to preserve the latter, and pro- 

 vision is very often made to drain off the former. When a vat 

 is not used in the yard, other means should be contrived to absorb 

 all these liquids. Porous substances should be freely sprinkled 

 upon the floors of the stalls. For this purpose nothing can be 

 better than powdered charcoal, because it will not only absorb 

 the urine of the cattle and horses, but will also preserve it from 



