1856. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



107 



solid manures, and arrangements being made for 



letting in and shutting off the water at pleasure. 

 If the ground to be treated to liquid manure was 

 a regular slope, like the roof of a building, the ob- 

 ject could be easily gained, and the land would pre- 

 sent a neat appearance ; for then the catch drains 

 would all be in parallel lines, and might be at equal 

 distances. 'In the following cut, the land is sup- 

 posed to be rolling, and in no way favorable to the 

 carrying out of the plan, except that it lies mostly 

 lower than the barn-yard, and that there is some- 

 where above the buildings a stream that can be run 

 into the tank at pleasure. Let the tank have a 

 pipe running horizontally from the bottom till it 

 reaches the surface of the ground near the upper 

 edge of the mowing. It should have a gate, and 

 the upper end should be surrounded with a screen, 

 or strainer, to prevent its filling with solid matters. 

 Then each way from the lower opening should be 

 constructed a broad, shallow catch-drain, with the 

 lower bank neatly rounded, and perfectly level from 

 end to end. Below this, and as nearly parallel as 

 the nature of the ground permits, let there be an- 

 other catch-drain, and so on, as in the cut below : 



K' H 



Let the square, a, represent the location of the 

 barn, sheds and yard, a marking the place of the 

 tank ; c, the outlet of the pipe running from tank 

 into the upper catch-drain ; e, the second catch- 

 drain ; {, the third ; m, the fourth ; n, n, embank- 

 ments to prevent the liquid manure running out of 

 the lot, if it should reach these points ; o, o, o, 

 parts of the field too high for irrigation ; and the 

 hair lines, rills of the liquid manure, running from 

 one catch-drain to another. If the field above rep- 

 resented have an impervious subsoil, retaining the 

 water, and inclining it to produce the sour, innu- 

 tritions grasses, it would be bad policy to apply this 

 diluted manure — it might only make bad worse, to 

 put on extra water ; but if it were first underdrained, 

 or if it have naturally a light, open subsoil, the ef- 

 fect could hardly foil to be good. In the first 

 place, the water itself, considered merely as for ir- 

 rigation, would be salutary ; and in the next place, 

 it would carry the soluble portions of the manure 

 along and deposit them in the soil, from the sur- 

 face downward, among the grass roots, more fa- 

 vorably to the growing crop than could be done in 

 any other Ava)'. The more elevated portions of the 

 field could receive a coating of manure spread on, 

 or could be tilled, the manure being plowed in, and 

 thus the whole be kept in a productive state. 

 Some may regard all this as mere theory, and if so, 

 they regard it just as it is. I will only say that 

 liquid manuring, could it be accompKshcd at a mod- 

 erate rate of expense, would be better in practice 

 than on paper, and we ought, at least, to be inquir- 

 ing how it can be done. 



The other suggestion is, whether liquid manure 

 could not, in particular cases, be conveyed to more 



distant fields, by its own weight and pressure. Sup- 

 pose, for instance, the farm buildings to be elevated, 

 and yet from still higher land, a running stream to 

 be at command ; and that in an opjwsite direction, 

 at a distance of 60 or 80 rods, is a field of, sav, 12 

 or 15 acres of tillage land, lying at a level of 30 or 

 40 feet lower than the buildings. The cost of lay- 

 ing a had pipe from the tank to the centre of the 

 field would not be very great. A single hydrant 

 with a hose 90 feet long would enable the operator 

 to throw the liquid manure over the whole field. 

 It would be no very great expense to extend this 

 pipe to other fields adjoining, and there to con- 

 struct hydrants, to which the same hose could be 

 attached. It would not be best, in such a case, to 

 agitate the manure in the tank very strongly, be- 

 fore drawing it oflf, but to let it settle so as to be 

 nearly free from solid matters, (the insoluble part 

 of the manure,) and to a])ply this to lands nearer 

 the barn. I cannot but think that on farms favor- 

 ably situated for such an operation, a considerable 

 saving of labor and a great increase of crops might 

 be gained, without any very frightful expense. 



For the New England Farmer, 



WHAT AILS MY COW ? 



Mr. Editor : — Can you tell me what ails my cow ? 

 Two or three weeks ago the hair around her eyes 

 turned white and came off; afterwards it came off in 

 spots back of her hips and on her thighs ; it has since 

 come off in other parts of her body — but princi- 

 pally where the spots first appeared — around the 

 roots of the tail, &c. The skin generally starts 

 with the hair, and a little bloody matter is seen be- 

 neath it, which soon dries up and forms a scab. 

 She appears as well as ever — eats and drinks as 

 usual. She is with calf, to come in late next sea- 

 son, and we milk her, but do not use her milk. 

 She gives her usual quantity, (a.) Is it best to 

 keep cattle in the barn, or let them run in the yard 

 in cold weather ? Many farmers keep them in the 

 barn mostly, turning them out to drink only once 

 in twenty-four hours. Is this the best way ? (b.) 

 Piinceton, Jan., 1856. A Subscriber. 



Remarks. — (a.) Can't tell you. Perhaps your eow 

 has been suddenly heated, and cooled off too quick. 

 Has a dog been after her recently ? Perhaps she 

 eats concentrated food, such as meal and slops. 

 Feed her on carrots or other roots, and English 

 hay, using the card freely, and you may bring out 

 a new coat better than the old one. 



(b.) Cattle do best in a warm and equable tem- 

 perature. If they can stand in the sun, and away 

 from the wind, two or three hours each day, well ; 

 if not, keep them tied up, but in a comfortable 

 manner. 



Wheat Cultivation. — Prof. Mapes, in a recent 

 address at the Indiana State Fair, stated that the 

 wheat crops of Ohio had fallen from 35 to 15 bus- 

 hels per acre. This statement is denied to be true 

 by the editor of the Ohio Farmer. He asserts that 

 the average amount of wheat raised per acre in 

 Ohio is now greater than ever it was, and he gives 

 statistics to prove his assertion. 



