68 



Tfiaer's Principles of AgiicuUure. — Swine, 



Vol. X. 



animal be fed on bad hay, or bad grain or 

 straw, or any coarse material, with little or 

 no nutriment in it, how can it be expected 

 that the manure it makes can enrich the 

 earth, when the creature itself is ill fed and 

 half starved. To produce the best manure 

 the food must be of the best sort ; or to say 

 the same thing in other words, the aniuial 

 should be in the best health. Our author 

 goes with some minuteness into the nature 

 of stable manure, but it is not necessary to 

 alarm our sensitive agricultural readers with 

 any scientific details, however correct or in- 

 teresting; it is enough to say, that in his 

 opinion and from his experience, this is ad- 

 mirably suited from its rapid decomposition, 

 and the heat it throws out during this pro- 

 cess, to cold, sterile, moist, and clayey soils, 

 while to the chalky, dry, sandy, and calca- 

 reous, it is extremely injurious; it forces 

 forward vegetation rapidly at first, but 

 when its influence has somewhat dimin- 

 ished and vegetation is left to the natural 

 strength of the soil, it droops and becomes 

 languid. It may be inferred from these 

 ideas, that this kind of manure is considered 

 only transient in its effect, and as of very 

 little use, except on moist and tenacious 

 soils; though it is extremely beneficial on 

 soils containing a large amount of humus or 

 vegetable mould, from its promoting, by the 

 passing off of its ammonia, the decomposi- 

 tion of this substance. When used by itself, 

 the author directs that it should be carried 

 to moist and clayey soils as soon as its first 

 stage of fermentation h'-is commenced, and 

 then buried ; fermentation and the heat it 

 produces render the soil looser and lighter, 

 and the repeated ploughings incorporate it 

 with the soil and tend to fertilize it. When 

 used on warm, light soils, he recommends 

 the mixing it with vegetable substances 

 which still retain their succulency, or with 

 earth, and especially with turf. These 

 should be mixed together, heaped up in suc- 

 cessive layers, protected from too free an 

 access of air, and moistened when the wea- 

 ther is dry. The manure from horned cattle 

 does not ferment so rapidly or develope so 

 much heat as that from horses. Its effect is 

 not therefore so rapid, but in proportion more 

 lasting, and it may be used on a greater 

 number of crops, and crops more various in 

 their nature. From there being very little 

 apparent increase of temperature during de- 

 composition, it is peculiarly adapted for warm 

 soils; wlu n buried beneath tenacious, clayey 

 soils, it will produce little or no eflect until 

 brought into contact with air; and it appears 

 that this is efifected by the tuber of the stem 

 keeping up the communication between the 

 air and the buried manure. The manure of 



sheep produces a very rapid, strong effect, 

 but is soon exhausted. VVhen its moisture 

 is preserved by being thrown into a heap, it 

 decomposes readily, but when this escapes, 

 decomposition takes place very slowly. From 

 its activity, and from its accelerating vege- 

 tation too much, the author thinks that it 

 should be employed in smaller quantities 

 than any other kind of manure; in most 

 cases its effect does not outlast the second 

 crop, and it seems of the most advantage on 

 soils containing insoluble humus or vegeta- 

 ble mould. It appears that there is a differ- 

 ence of opinion among agriculturists as to 

 the efficacy of the manure of pigs, and it is 

 probable that this arises from the difference 

 in the food that they receive, there being a 

 far greater influence from this source on the 

 manure of these animals than on that of any 

 other; though there is nodoubt of its activity 

 when every proper arrangement is made to 

 preserve all the excrement. The manure 

 of the poultry-yard, which is very little re- 

 garded, but which might form for the farmer 

 his native guano, is of the greatest strength 

 and activity. It is very different from that 

 of quadrupeds, and contains a peculiar sub- 

 stance resembling albumen. Vauquelin, a 

 celebrated French chemist, discovered in an 

 analysis of this material, that there was a 

 marked difference between the dung of 

 cocks and that of breeding hens. In the 

 use of this article it is essential that it 

 should be as minutely divided as possible. 



E. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Swine. 



To THE Editor. — There is perhaps no 

 race of animals more Useful or profitable to 

 the farmer, than a good breed of swine ; and 

 it is of great importance that the best breeds 

 should be disseminated throughout the coun- 

 try. 1 happened yesterday to see a lot of 

 Chester county, pure white pigs, that had 

 been purchased by Mr. Aaron Clement, of 

 this city, for some of his friends in this neigh- 

 borhood, and for a gentleman in Richmond, 

 Virginia. They were large and perfect in 

 form; they appear like easy keepers, and I 

 am told that they arrive at great weight at 

 an early age; .^ay from three to five hundred 

 pounds. Persons at a distance desirous of 

 procuring the best breeds of cattle, sheep or 

 swine, can apply to Mr. Clement with the 

 greatest confidence. 



A Subscriber to the Cabinet. 



Philad'a, Sept. 5th, 1845. 



In the autumn when you sow your wheat, 

 is generally the best time to sow Timothy 

 seed. 



