FARM-YARD MANURE. 



FARM-5TARD MANURE. 



is the horse dung. (Blakie on Farm-yard Dung, 

 p. 6.) There is no doubt of the superior ferti- 

 lizing effects of horse-dung. In an experiment 

 with beans, in which six acres were manured 

 with horse-(lunu r , and nine with that from a 

 cow-yard, the six yielded more beans than the 

 nine. (A r - -r, vol. ii. p. 280.) The 



same observation was made in Lincolnshire. 

 (;$ir/fii'/- f Jgr. p. 214.) The heat produced by 

 the fermentation of the dung of different ani- 

 mals has been made the subject of repeated 

 e.\pn unent. When the temperature of the air 

 was 40, that of 



Common farm-yard dung was - - - - 70? 



A mixture of lime, dung, and earth - 55 



swine and fowls' dung- - -85 

 (Fanner's Magazine, vol. x. iv. p. 160.) 



The cultivator will readily allow the advan- 

 tages of the plan thus recommended by Mr. 

 Blakie ; and the student must see from the fol- 

 lowing experiments, that the dung of different 

 animals vary very much in their fertilizing 

 powers. 



The subjoined table contains the results of 

 the experiments made with three different ma- 

 nures on the growth of potatoes, by Mr. Oliver, 

 of Mid-Lothian ; the cow and horse-dung were 

 recently made; the potatoes were of the de- 

 scription called Pinkeyes, and forty loads of 

 about eighteen cwt. per acre were employed 

 of each manure. (Enry.Metrop. vol. vi. p. 61.) 



Malcolm (see Brit. Husb. vol. i. p. 260) has 

 given an estimate of the number of cubic yards 

 or tons of farm-yard compost necessary for 

 various soils per acre, which is as follows : 



Some experiments of Mr. Wright, made upon 

 plots of ground of equal size, indicate the num- 

 ber of stems of barley produced by various fer- 

 tilizers : each plot was dibbled with 60 corns 

 of barley, (dgr. Mag. vol. i. p. 328.) 



No. of 



No. 



1. No manure 



2. Manured with 5 tons of cow-dnng per acre 



3. 

 4 



5 

 6 

 7 

 8. 

 9. 

 10. 



horse do. 

 pig do. 

 sheep do. 

 80 bush, coal ashes 



wood do. 



goose-dung 



hen do. 



duck do. 



lien,*. 



159 

 167 

 226 

 233 

 244 

 233 

 211 

 185 

 303 



458 



With regard to the form of dung-yards, ther 

 is some little difference of opinion. "Some 

 theorists," says Blakie, " recommend the yards 

 to be made so concave, as almost to amount to 

 a in //-shape, giving, as a reason in support of 

 their opinion, that the virtues of dung can only 

 be preserved by being saturated in urine, or 

 some other moisture. Others, again, assert 

 that dung-yards should be formed convex, and 

 assign as their reason, that farm-yard dung 

 should be kept dry. Practical experience 

 points out that a medium between those two 

 extremes is the best; and a yard a little hol- 

 lowed is the most common shape. 



I will here introduce the description recom- 

 mended by Mr. Blakie, of the best mode of 

 forming dung-heaps or pies in turnip-fields, so 

 as to prevent, as much as possible, the waste 

 of gaseous matters, during the fermentation of 

 the manure. " When," said this intelligent 

 agriculturist, " it is found necessary to empty 

 the dung-yards early in the season, I recom- 

 mend that preparation should be made, in the 

 usual way, for the reception of the dung-heaps 

 in the intended turnip-fields, by collecting large 

 heaps of clay marl, or such other materials. 

 The bottoms for the heaps should not, however, 

 be laid above six or eight inches thick of the 

 earthy material, and a good quantity of it should 

 be placed in rows on each side of the bottoms 

 marked out; the dung should then be drawn 

 out of the yards, and placed upon the bottoms, 

 but not in the usual way of throwing it up 

 loosely, to cause fermentation ; on the contrary, 

 by drawing the carts with their loads upon the 

 heaps, for the purpose of compressing the dung, 

 and thereby retarding fermentation. One or 

 two men should remain constantly at the heaps, 

 while the teams are at work, on purpose to 

 spread and level the dung regularly, so as to 

 render the ascent easy for the succeeding teams, 

 as they come with their loads. If the dung has 

 not been previously mixed in the yards, it 

 should be so in drawing to the heaps, by taking 

 up a few loads from one yard, and then a few 

 from another, alternately; and even from the 

 same yard, the loads of dung should be taken 

 from different parts alternately; for the dung 

 is not of equal quality, nor made with the same 

 regularity, in all parts of the yard. 



" The coal-ashes, road-scrapings, and all 

 other collections of manure about the farm- 

 house, should also be carried to these dung- 

 heaps; and when the heaps are raised as high 

 as convenient for the horses to draw up, seve- 

 ral loads should be shot up at the ends of the 

 heaps, for the purpose of making them up to 

 the square of the centre. The whole heaps 

 should then be completely covered with the 

 marl and clay, or soil previously collected in 

 rows by the sides of the heaps, so as effectually 

 to enclose the dung-heaps in crusts, and they 

 are thenceforth denominated^*. In these, the 

 dung will be preserved in a very perfect state, 

 with little or no fermentation, and without loss 

 by exhalation or evaporation. The pies, within 

 ten days or a fortnight of the time the compost 

 is wanted for the turnip ground, should be 

 turned carefully over, and the crust, top, bottom, 

 and sides intimately mixed up with the dung. 

 When the turning is completed, with the natu- 



