408 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



which lie ail over it. In sprint^ the whole is 

 repeatedly harrowed to make it level, and is then 

 ploughed flat, or in stitches to prepare for Eowin^f, 

 the manuring being a mutter of course. This 

 will s'we some idea of the importance attached to 

 deepening and mixing the soil, and will account 

 for the uniform appearance of the crops on soils 

 of very different qualities. The worst soils re- 

 quire more labor and manure, and consequently 

 are less valuable ; but every deficiency is made 

 up by additional industry. But it may be asked, 

 where can a farmer tind manure, solid and liquid, 

 to manure nearly all his land every year? for of 

 all the crops cultivated buckwheat is the only one 

 which is sown without some manure, at least by 

 all good farmers. This is the great point to 

 which the attention of the farmer is constantly 

 directed. The collecting and preparing of ma- 

 nure is a profession of itself. The poor in towns 

 sweep the streets and make composts of all refuse 

 matter in some spot given to ihem for that pur- 

 pose without the gates. They reduce it to a fine 

 powder, and dry it in the sun. What will 

 chemists say to this? Will not all the volatile 

 parts fly oflT. and the best portions of the manure 

 be lost? We will not pretend to give an answer 

 ID this objection: but the fact is, that this dry 

 manure is most highly prized by the growers of 

 flax, and is supposed more efficacious ihan any 

 other, night-soil excepted. This last is the ne 

 plus ultra oi' manure for light soils, ti is con- 

 veyed in boats Irom the different towns, and de- 

 posited in pits, where it. is collected and kept for 

 sale by measure. In a very dense population 

 this resource is considerable, and no one would 

 be so wasteful as to allow the common sewers to 

 carry off' a substance which is regularly sold and 

 obtains a good price. 



These are adventitious resources, and can only 

 be depended on in certain localities. The only 

 certain means of obtainintr manure is by itjeding 

 cattle, which in the Netherlands are chiefly milch 

 cows. No meadows are required in the light 

 lands of Flanders for the cattle to graze in : and 

 where there are meadows along the banks of the 

 rivers, they are mown to feed the cows with grass 

 in the stalls, or to make hay for winter fodder. 

 The whole system of husbandry is founded on 

 the supply of manure, and a considerable portion 

 of the crops are n;erely subservient to this purpose. 

 The immediate profit on the cattle is trifling, if 

 they do not even cost mote to leed than their 

 produce will repay : but the manure must be 

 had ; and he who can procure manure at the 

 least cost is the best farmer. Keeping this in 

 view, all the cattle are kept in stables, that none 

 of the manure may be lost ; and every mode of 

 feeding has been tried which will increase the 

 manure at the cheapest rate. Meadows being 

 scarce, and hay dear in those parts of the Nether- 

 lands where the soil is sandy, the chief food of 

 cows in summer is grass, bar'ley or oats, cut in a 

 green state, clover, tares, and spurrey ; and in 

 winter cabbages, beans, and roots. These last 

 are not given in their natural state, but soaked 

 in warm water, or boiled into a mess, which is 

 given milk-warm to the cows in troutrhs ; so that 

 it may be truly said, that the cows are fed like 

 pigs. The straw is used chiefly aa litter lor the 

 horses. The cows often lie on smooth bricks, 

 which are washed clean twice a day, (or which 



purpose a pump is an essential appendage to a 

 cow-house. There is generally a deep gutter 

 along the wall behind the cows, into which the 

 water and urine drain, the ground sloping gently 

 towards it. The tank is either immediately under 

 the stable, well vaulted over, or it is so near that 

 all the liquid readily runs into it through a covered 

 drain. The heads of the cows are towards the 

 middle of the stable, and their tails over the 

 gutter along the wall. The width of the building 

 admits of two rows of cows, facing each other, 

 with a space between them sufficiently wide to 

 admit a small cart to bring the food to them. 

 This is universally the tbrni of a cow-house in 

 Holland. The liquid In the tank is allowed to 

 go through the first stages of fermentation, during 

 which the caustic portion of the urine is rendered 

 mild,. and the liquor is better adapted to be taken 

 up by the fibres of the roots. In order that there 

 may be a regular succession of liquid, in a proper 

 state for use, there are partitions in the tanks, 

 and, by means of small flood-gates in the drain 

 which leads to it, the fresh accumulation may be 

 directed to any one of the pits thus formed, while 

 the ripe liquor may be pumped up into tubs or 

 barrels set on wheels, to be conveyed to the land. 

 There are means of accelerating or retarding the 

 fermentation, according to the time when the 

 liquor is wanted. Stirring and admitting the air 

 assist the process, while the addition of earth, 

 peat, or ashes, and keeping out the air, retard it. 

 The efTicacy of the liquid is much increased by 

 adding oil-cake, the residue of rapeseed when the 

 oil has been (iressed out, and other vegetable 

 substances. This is usually done a short lime 

 before it is put on the land, as it would otherwise 

 ferment too much. 



We have already mentioned the compost-heaps. 

 These are chiefly made of the dung and litter of 

 the horses and pins, kept moderately moist, and 

 mixed with every kind of reliise vegetable matter, 

 with the addition of mould from ditches and the 

 sods taken fi"om open drains in pastures. This is 

 generally put on the land in an active state of 

 fermentation, and immediately ploughed in ; 

 sometimes the small heaps laid out of the carts at 

 regular distances in the field are moistened with 

 liquid manure, to excite a fresh action; and, as 

 soon as they begin to heat, the dung is spread and 

 ploughed in. It would appear from this, that it 

 has been found to decay more rapidly in the earth, 

 when put in hot, th^n when the fermentation is 

 already subdued, which might be anticipated in 

 the sandy soils. 



" BEST TIME FOR CUTTING TIMBER. 



For tlie Farmers' Register. 



An article from the New Genesee Farmer, 

 under the above caption, lately republished in the 

 Farmers' Register, contains some valuable sug- 

 gestions. I believe, with the writer, that the sum- 

 mer is the best time for cutting timber, but not 

 that every part of the summer is equally good. 

 Early in the season the flow of sap is so abundant, 

 that its retention in the pores of the wood during 

 the act of seasoning is liable to produce fermenta- 

 tion, and consequently premature decay. 



It is a well known fact, that in the month of 



