1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



299 



FARMYARD DUNG-.-PREPARATION AND 

 APPLICATION. 



No subject in the varied course of agriculture 

 obtains a more general notice, or deserves a 

 more important consideration, than the applica- 

 tion of farmyard dung. The article is produced 

 on all lands on which grains grow and animals 

 are kept, and is the most efficacious of all ma- 

 nures that are yet known. It is a mixed body of 

 straws and excrements, urinary and solid, pos- 

 sessing the quick action of the latter substances, 

 and the more durable qualities of the former ma- 

 terials. All other manures are brought from for- 

 eign places, and purchased by a ready cost ; farm- 

 yard dung is daily produced, and of a constant 

 repetition. The use is varied and of a great 

 value, and the application is no less important. 



An approved and long-continued mode of pre- 

 paring farmyard dung prevails in the celebrated 

 lurnip-growing Border counties, of placing the 

 contents of the cattle-yards in square piles about 

 six feet in hei^t, in the corner of the fields to 

 be planted with green crops. The yards are con- 

 cave or dish-shaped, retaining and spreading the 

 moisture equally over the mass, and supplied 

 with straws that absorb all the moisture from 

 rains, snows and urine. The contents are car- 

 ried out at two different times during winter, and 

 no pressure is allowed on the piles, except the 

 weight of one or two persons to spread the ma- 

 terials evenly and thinly over the heap. In this 

 condition, a fermentation reduces the heap into 

 a saponaceous mass for use in May and June, and 

 in a condition that is easily divided by hand-forks, 

 well moistened, and from which the heat of fer- 

 mentation has in most cases nearly altogether 

 vanished. Much bulk is lost by this mode of 

 preparation, but it is reckoned the best for the 

 u.se of green crops. 



Having been educated under the above system 

 of preparing farmyard dung, I practised the mode 

 with the usual success in various parts of the 

 kingdom. In later years I adopted another mode, 

 from the observation of a very large loss of bulk, 

 and from a wish to use a fresher condition of the 

 dung. At any times of convenience during win- 

 ter, the contents of the yards are carried to the 

 green-crop fields, and laid in a heap sloping at 

 both ends, over which the carts pass to deposit 

 the loads, and over which the materials are spread 

 evenly and thinly, in order to mix the substances, 

 and that no part remain in a dry state. The con- 

 solidation from the pressure of the carts prevents 

 the fermentation of the heap, which is formed at 

 convenient times, from November to the month 

 of April, and later when the yards are duly moist 

 and the straws thinly used. Potatoes are the 

 first-planted green crop ; and about ten days be- 

 fore the dung is required for use, the heap is 

 turned over with forks, laid loosely together, and 

 the lumps well broken, and the dry outside of 

 the heap thrown into the middle of the new ag- 

 gregation. A very active fermentation immedi 

 ately commences, which is prevailing during the 

 deposition of the dung in the drills, which are 

 immediately reversed and the seed sown. This 

 mode produces fully equal if not superior results 

 to the first-mentioned preparation : it affords a 

 larger bulk, and more convenience in forming 

 the heaps at different times ; while the former 



requires to be done at one time, or at not distant 

 periods. 



For some considerable time past, I have doubt- 

 ed the fermentation of farmyard dung, having 

 had freshly-voided fa?ces, carried from the cow- 

 shed, laid into drills for turnips, which were a 

 superior crop to the parts of the field treated with 

 fermented dung. This result happened on sev- 

 eral occasions, constituting a fact, from a majority 

 of similar results. In order to facilitate the ap- 

 plication of fresh dung, I have long ago recom- 

 mended that all straws for litter should be cut 

 into short lengths by the thrashing machinery, 

 and that the dung be mixed with the prepared 

 turnip-lands by contrary workings of Finlayson's 

 harrow, and raised into ridglets by one furrow 

 of the common plow, in which the seeds are sown 

 by the common two-drill machine, or with a por- 

 tion of bones or guano by Hornsby's drop drill. 

 This practice will supersede the fermenting heap 

 of farmyard dung, and remove the objection of 

 long straws not covering into the ground, by cut- 

 ting into short lengths. The fa3ces and short 

 straws will be convenient for Chandler's liquid 

 manure drill, when Mr. Kemp's theory has ad- 

 vanced into a more general notice. 



The application is most excellent of farmyard 

 dung as a top-dressing of young grass seeds ; 

 and for that purpose, the fresh, strawy condition 

 is preferable. The crops of clover are largely 

 increased, and also the following crops of wheat. 

 I have long ago suggested that the farmyard dung 

 generally applied on bare clay fallows, for wheat, 

 be applied as a top-dressing on the young wheats, 

 in March, by means of moveable timber railways 

 placed on the ground. But, most unfortunately, 

 now-a-days, no opinion, theory, idea, or sugges- 

 tion meets with any notice, except it emanates 

 from a society or a club. Individuals languish 

 in obscurity, and are held in insignificance. 



The use of food being to produce caloric to 

 plants and organic bodies, the chief considera 

 tion is, how to apply the manures as food for that 

 purpose, and, in order to yield that element in 

 the least expensive manner and most ample quan- 

 tity. I wholly dissent from chemistry — that rot- 

 ten dung is more efl[icacious than fresh dung : 

 weight for weight, and quantity for quantity, the 

 latter must prevail in the abundance. The many 

 statements made, of chemical agencies and trans- 

 formations, are of small account. 



With regard to covered and uncovered feeding- 

 stalls, the former may suit in certain places ; but 

 in the majority of situations, the stray/ could not 

 be reduced without the rains and snows that fall 

 in the yards ; and, under the covered sheds, the 

 want of moisture produces a dry putrefaction. 

 Even with the present open yards, much difficulty 

 is experienced in reducing the straws into an im- 

 pregnated condition with rain and urine. 



I have not the pleasure of an acquaintance 

 with Mr. Baker, of Writtle, nor do I know his 

 appearance from sight ; but I have ever admired 

 the sound and enlightened judgment displayed 

 by him on all practical subjects, and the strong 

 sense that he brings to bear on the reveries of 

 cognate auxilaries. These aids are but puny, 

 shallow and evanescent ; apt to dazzle and de- 

 ceive, to bewilder and mislead ; and often noisy 

 as the tinman's trade. An enlightened practice 

 must lead and confirm. — Mark Lane Express. 



