Vol. 6. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



85 



From theN. Y. stale Transactions — 1844. 



MANURES— THEIR WASTE, &c. 



BY L. B. LANGWORTHY. 



The vast importance to the agricultural commu- 

 nity, of manures, is a subject almost too palpable 

 to require my poor aid in enforcing its value and 

 claims ; yet I propose to treat the subject in a plain 

 manner, adapted to the ability and comprehension of 

 the common every day, practical farmer, which sta- 

 tion is the bounds of my ambition in that line. 



The present days are proliiic with able, learned 

 and valuable treatises on the subject. Chemistry 

 and analysis are taking the place of superstitious 

 dogmas and venerable vulgar errors, and some of the 

 great lights of the age are engaged in developing 

 and elucidating the mysteries of manures, which in 

 fact and verity is the true and long sought Philos- 

 pher's Stone, which by-gone credulity supposed 

 gifted with the magic property of turning all sub- 

 stances it touched into gold. 



The object of this article is to show the waste 

 and loss of a great part of the valuable properties — 

 the very life blood, heart and soul of manures, as 

 generally made and produced by a great majority of 

 farmers in all parts of the country ; even those who 

 are ambitious of being 'estimated as good practical 

 and economical husbandmen. 



The great and prominent fault, as I consider it, 

 lies in the exposure of the droppings of animals dur- 

 ing the feeding season, promiscuously over great 

 rambling barn-yards, wholly exposed to the rains 

 and melting snows ; whereby at least three quarters 

 of the true and elementary properties of the manure 

 are leached off and lost. 



What should we think of the housewife, who, as 

 she gathered her ashes for spring soap-making, should 

 pile them out upon the snow, exposed to all weath- 

 ers 1 Would not every one exclaim with the prompt- 

 er, " she does not work it right.'' In what point 

 are the two processes different ? 



It is only the liquid and soluble parts of barn-yard 

 manure, which renders it superior to sawdust, or mere 

 undecomposed vegetable matter ; let any one observe 

 a horse dropping deposited in the fall of the year, 

 which has laid exposed to the weather till some day 

 in May; chrush it and it is a dry, pulvurent, inodorus 

 mass of finely cut hay, without taste or smell, and is 

 in fact worth no more than so much stubble, except 

 that it is finer, and if mixed with the soil would soon- 

 er decompose and form humus, or the food of plants ; 

 the virtue is washed away by the great floods of 

 winter and spring, and is careering on to its desti- 

 nation, the Atlantic ocean. During a rain or thaw, 

 observe the pools, puddles and streams of dark col- 

 ored, rich leachings about the barn-yard, that pass 

 off into the next ditch, and are lost. Can this be e- 

 conomy ? Is there no better process for preserving 

 so valuable a material for the farm within the reach 

 of those of ordinary means 1 



It has been speciously urged that barn-yards 

 should be concave, or lowest at the centre, with vats 

 to contain the liquid manure ; but in most cases it 

 is a fallacy, as the quantity of water that falls on 

 the surface, and the drippings of roofs, and melting of 

 snows, is so great, that it will fill up the hollow of 

 the yard and pass off, nor could any sink or vats be 

 constructed capacious enough to contain the liquids 

 within the ability of common farmers, and even if it 

 were possible, the quantity would be so diluted, that 

 it could in no way be profitably used. 



Tanks and drains attached to stables where cattle 



and horses are housed, is undoubtedly a great saving 

 and improvement, for containing the urine ; but ia 

 such a departure from the habits and customs of our 

 generality of farmers, that it can hardly prevail to 

 any extent. None but the wealthy, or the parvenues, 

 will go to the expense, or venture on the innovation. 

 Most barn-yards are too large, and many are with- 

 out water, and cattle are obliged to travel half or 

 three-quarters of a mile for drink, and then allowed 

 to wander in the streets or fields for the rest of the 

 day, depositing their droppings where they are of no 

 use, beyond the reach of the owner. This is decided- 

 ly wrong ; if manure is worth any thing, it is worth 

 saving ; and those who are so prodigal of their ma- 

 nure, should go to England, and see thousands of 

 the poor gaining a livelihood by picking up the drop- 

 pings of animals by the road-side, and selling it to 

 the workers of the soil. 



Barn-yards should be as small as the stock kept 

 will permit, and care should be taken that descending 

 grounds in the neighborhood do not send their sur- 

 face waters into them. All surplus straw that can- 

 not be eaten by the stock, should be liberally spread 

 over the yard and under the sheds, to be beaten up 

 and to absorb the liquids ; being composed of hollow 

 cylinders, when once filled with liquid manures, it 

 holds it by capillary attraction, and will not part 

 with it, even in heavy rains, and therefore is an im- 

 portant agent of absorption. 



But after all, the true way to do the thing right 



to make manure and then to save it — is, to stable 

 and litter the animals, and make the manure under 

 cover, and keep it there ; but when inconvenient, it 

 may be thrown out in heaps, the exposure to rains 

 affecting it but little, in comparison to its lying scat- 

 terd over an acre of ground. 



It is a well acertained fact, that the quantity of 

 food required by the animal system to keep up its 

 natural heat, is greatly influenced by heat and cold. 

 Man or beast, when exposed to excessive cold, re- 

 quire one-third more food than when protected by 

 housing or artificial heat ; the animal stove, like the 

 mechanical one, requires more fuel in cold weather 

 than in warm ; this is palpable to every observer, 

 with respect to his own person, and is applicable to 

 the whole animal creation, and in strict accordance 

 with the eductions of philosophy. How important, 

 then in the fatting process, or in the mere subsis- 

 tence of animals, on the score of economy, is protec- 

 tion and warmth for the farm stock — to say nothing 

 on the score of humanity — and when the increased 

 value of the manure is taken into consideration, how 

 important becomes the stabling and shed protecting 

 system. 



Another method is practiced with great economy, 

 by the use of feeding sheds ; they should be from 

 twenty to twenty-four feet in depth, and as long as 

 may be required ; with a double roof, with purloin 

 plates to sustain it ; the posts twelve feet lono- and 

 the beams at seven feet from the ground, leaving a 

 large space above for the general store of hay for win- 

 ter feeding, with a strong feed rack on the back side, 

 and a long sloping brace every five feet, to protect 

 and give confidence to the underlings, against the 

 master cattle, and yet not so as to confine them, that 

 they cannot see them and change places when thej*' 

 move ; there should be sliding doors every twenty 

 feet in front, to take in the hay, and a row of studs on 

 the back side of the upper story, to secure a passage 

 of four feet, and an opening over the rack, to feed 

 through. 



