Book IV. STACK-YARD, DUNG-YARD, &c. 459 



Sect. V. Stack-yard, Dung-yard, and other Enclosures immediately connected with 



Farm Buildings. 



2902. The different appendages which are common to farm buildings are the dung-yards, 

 pits and reservoirs, the rick-yard, the straw-yard, the poultry-yard, drying-yard, garden, 

 orchard, and cottage-yards. These necessarily vary much, according to situation and 

 other circumstances, but all of them are more or less essential to a complete farmery. 



2903. The dung-yard and pit is placed in almost every case in the centre of the main 



yard. A pavement, or causeway, ought to be carried round the yard, next to the houses, 



of nine or fifteen feet in width, according to the scale of the whole : the remaining part 



of the yard should either be enclosed with a wall with various doors to admit cattle, carts, 



and wheel-barrows, or, on a small scale, it may be entirely open. From tlus space the 



earth should be excavated so as to form a hollow deepest at the centre, or at the lower 



end if the original surface was not level ; and from the lowest part of this hollow should 



be conducted a drain to a reservoir for liquid manure. The bottom of this excavation, 



or dung basin, ought to be rendered hard, to resist the impression of cart wheels in 



removing the dung, and impervious to moisture, to prevent absorption. 



2904. For these purposes, it may be either paved, the stones being set on a layer of clay ; or what will 

 generally answer equally well, it may be covered with a thick coat of gravel or chalk, if it can be got, and 

 then well rolled ; mixing some loam with the gravel, if it is found not to consolidate readily. To prevent, 

 as much as possible, a superfluity of rain-water from mixing with the dung and diluting its drainings, all 

 external surface-water should be prevented from entering the farm-yard by means of drains, open or 

 covered ; and that which collects on the inner slopes of the roofs, should, in every case, be carried off by 

 gutters. Such is the opinion of most, agriculturists as to the situation of the farm-yard, dung-hill, and 

 reservoir ; but, in addition to these requisites, it is now very properly considered as equally important 

 that there be urine-pits, either open or covered. 



2905. The urinarium, or urine-pit, is constructed in or near to the stables and cattle- 

 sheds, for the immediate reception of the drainage of these buildings unmixed with rain- 

 water. It is found from experience that a very considerable addition of the richest kind 

 of manure is thus obtained on every arable farm. At the same time it is proper to 

 observe, that no benefit, but a loss, will arise, if the urine is so completely drained from 

 the straw as to leave it too dry for fermentation. Where there are no stall-fed cattle, 

 an able author (Supp. Enc. Brit. i. 121.) is of opinion there will be no more urine than 

 what will be required for converting the straw into manure. Where cattle are fed at 

 the stake, however, he considers a reservoir as essential. Allan, of Craigcrook near Edin- 

 burgh, recommends that there should be two, in order that as soon as one is full, it should 

 remain in that state till the urine becomes putrid before it is taken away. The urine is 

 either applied to the land in its liquid state, or mixed with peat, earth, &c. The 

 reservoirs may be either vaults of masonry, or wells : in either case, the hole for the 

 pump should be sufficiently large to admit a man to clean out the sediment when 

 it accumulates. A very desirable plan seems to be, to have these vaults, or wells, chiefly 

 within the cattle-house, as in Flanders, but partly also without, to admit room for the 

 pump-hole, close by the wall on the inside of the surrounding paved road. It is need- 

 less to add, that such constructions ought to be made water-tight by the use of some 

 cement, or by puddling with clay outside of the masonry. 



2906. The stack-yard, or enclosure within which corn, hay, &c, are stacked, is placed 



exterior to that side of the building which contains the barn. Stack-yards should always 



be sufficiently spacious and airy, having a firm dry bottom ; and some advise them to be 



ridged up, to prevent the accumulation of surface-water ; as by raising the ridges pretty 



well in the middle, and covering the places where the stacks are to be built, either with 



rough stones, with a mixture of gravel, or with pavement in the same manner as streets, 



much advantage would be gained at little expense : but a much better method is to have 



them raised considerably above the surface, and placed upon pillars of wood or stone, 



with a covering of wood round the circumference, and beams laid across. The enclosing 



of stack-yards should be well performed, either by means of walls or palings, or better 



with a sunk fence ; as in this way the stacks will have the full benefit of the air from top 



to bottom, — a circumstance of no small moment, since it is often found, especially in wet 



seasons, where the fence of the stack-yards is only a low wall, that the whole of the stacks 



are damaged or spoiled as high up as the wall reaches, while the upper part is perfectly safe. 



Should any addition be required to the sunk fence, a railing upon the top may be quite 



sufficient. This fully shows the vast advantage of having stack-yards sufficiently airy. 



The proper arrangement of the stands, for their being removed to the threshing-mill, is 



also a matter of much consequence, in the economy of the work that is to be performed 



in them. 



2P07. A stack-yard, arranged on principles peculiarly well planned and judicious, has been formed by 

 Mitchell, of Balquharn near Alloa. His stacks are divided into regular rows, and there is a road on each 

 side of every double row, besides a road round the whole yard. This plan is attended with the following 

 advantages: 1st, by these parallel roads, there is a greater degree of ventilation ; 2dly, he can remove any 

 stack he pleases, as necessity or markets may require; 3dly, in the hurry of harvest there is no confusion 

 or loss of time, whatever may be the number of men or horses employed ; and 4thly, by having the rows 

 and the stacks regularly numbered, there is no difficulty in ascertaining what each field of the farm 

 produces. 



