48 



THE FARMERS* REGISTER. 



every night in warm and comfortable pens at the 

 house ol my hog-minder. All my other hogs, 

 viz. : sows and store pigs of the springs h'.ters are 

 kept in sties at ihe larm-yard. Tiieir pens are 

 regularly hitered and cleaned out once a week. 

 1 litter with leaves from the woods when I can 

 get them dry, and with straw, wlien I cannot. 



As to food, I aim at the (bilovving plan. As 

 soon as the clover is sufficiently started 1 turn all 

 my hogs in it. They remain on the clover till 

 wheat is cut. They then glean the wheat and 

 oat fields until all tlie grain is well picked up. My 

 hogs never fail to improve very last on the clo- 

 ver and wheal fields. By the time the wheat 

 and oat fields are well gleaned, cimblins will be 

 ready lor them. Cimblins will last till pumpkins 

 come to hand. At the same time that pumpkins 

 are ready, beets may also be boiled and will make 

 a most excellent wash mixed with a little bran or 

 hominy. Wash made of beets, carrots, parsnip 

 and ruta-baga, together with a little grain, euch 

 as tail-ends li-om wheat and short (or " refuse") 

 corn, I look to (or carrying them up to clover time 

 again. iMy fattening hoirs I teed liberally with 

 short corn for 4 weeks before killing, if I have it, 

 and if not, with good corn. This year I liave fat- 

 tened GOUO wt. of pork without resorting to good 

 corn. 



If Ihe above crude remarks induce a single farm- 

 er to make a crop of roots, I shall be more than 

 compensated lor the short lime they occupied. 



A LOWLAKDER. 



MANURES AND THEIR APPLICATION. 



From tlic Boston Cultivator. 



Flesh of all kinds is strong and valuable ma- 

 nure — il operates rapidly when buried in the field, 

 and in the compost heap it contributes more rich- 

 ness than almost any substance which wc are in 

 the habit of using. All kinds of oil, fat. blood 

 and offal of animals are exceedingly powerful, 

 and none of these should be lost. At this season 

 of the year, when farmers kill their hogs and 

 cattle, this offal, &c. should all be covered in ihe 

 compost heap. Hogs' bristles, hair, tanners' 

 waste, and shavings may often be collected in 

 great quantities. 



Fish were formerly used in many places near 

 the seacoast lor manure, but the practice is now 

 discontinued — twoalewives were placed in acorn 

 or a potato hill, and nothing else was applied. In 

 a course of years it was discovered that this ma- 

 nuring impoverished the soil, and some thought it 

 broueht a curse upon it on account of the misap- 

 plication of what was providentially intended for 

 food. 



The truth is, a small mess of manure of any 

 kind put in the hill only, for the raising of exhaust- 

 ing crops, will impoverish all kinds of soil, for it 

 creates a greater draft in the roots where it is ap- 

 plied, and shoots them out in search of food in 

 places not artificially supplied with enriching 

 matter — a rank growth of stalks in the hill requir- 

 ing more to nourisli them than a small growth. 

 Had these fish been put in the compost heap and 

 then spread over the ground and covered, the 

 effect would have been different. 



We see the powerful eflfect of matters of an 



oily nature when we witness the operation of 

 wool waste on grass lands. No animal manure, 

 or excrement of animals, is known to be half equal 

 toil. It is true some animal manure is usually 

 found in wool waste, but the exiraordinary effects 

 of this manure must be principally owing to Ihe 

 animal oil in the wool. Large quantities of this 

 matter may be found at woollen and carpet facto- 

 ries, and farmers who can will do well to procure 

 it at considerable cost. It should always be put 

 into the compost heap and mixed with sand or 

 loam before it is carted on to the mowing land. 



Horse stable manure. — We rank this next to 

 oil, fat flesh of different kinds, and offal. No 

 manure will hold on longer than tliis, and when 

 il is properly managed there is no difficulty in 

 bringing it to operate early. Yet in many places 

 horse manure is not highly valued. The reason 

 of this is it is either suffered to lie in a heap and 

 to heat too much, turning white like the ashea 

 of walnut wood after all ihe substance is con- 

 sumed — or it is suffered to lie scattered abroad 

 until its goodness has nearly all evaporated. 



We have known many farmers who were very 

 careful to make the most of their hog manure, 

 yet I hey would have less than two cart loads an- 

 nually from the horse stable. When this manure 

 is thrown out of ihe stable it should be imme- 

 diately mixed with something that requires to be 

 heated. Peat much, soil of almost any kind may 

 be used ; ihese will keep the horse manure from 

 heating too much and washing away. But a still 

 better mode is to keep the horse standing on his 

 manure. This cannot be practised in large tavern 

 stables, but in most private establishments there is 

 no diflir.uliy in it ; and both in winter and summer 

 a horse may be kept much more comfortable than 

 in any other manner. 



The horse stable should have no floor— and 

 where the ground will admit of it the horse should 

 be kept in the barn cellar, or where he may be 

 partially under ground. Here he is warmer in 

 winter and cooler in summer than when he is 

 whol^ above ground ; ihe flies pester him less — 

 they will not trouble him in the least if the stable 

 is darkened, as it may be — without a floor, he 

 stands on his manure, well covered daily with 

 litter — and here his hoofs are never known to 

 crack, and the horse never becomes lame on ac- 

 count of fever in his feet, arising from the dryness 

 of a floor. Here also the horse lies at his ease 

 and rests his bones. 



But this is not all — his manure is more than six 

 times as valuable as when he is kept in the com- 

 mon way, for fifteen loads of the best kind may be 

 made each year from a single horse. Il is very 

 fashionable to speak of the quantity that may be 

 made from hogs, but many seem not lo consider 

 how much may be made from other animals. In 

 this mode only do we save all the urine of the 

 horse ; and this contributes to keep the whole from 

 burning; and while the horse stands on it there 

 is no danger of losing its virtues — we can keep it 

 till we want to use it. As soon as we overhaul 

 this heap or throw it out, we must watch it, and 

 not let it heat too much. 



