30 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Angnst 8, 18S'2, 



Eimw asrcaaiiSTiD siisimi^aa 



Boston, Wednesday Evening, August 8, 1832. 



FARMER'S WORK FOR AUGUST. 



FARM YARD, MANURE, Scc. 



This may be as good a time as can be chosen 

 for constructing or altering barn yards, so that 

 they will best answer for making and saving ma- 

 nure and other economical purposes. AVe shall 

 give opiuions of eminent agriculturists on this sub- 

 ject. 



Judge Buel, of Albany says : " The cattle yard 

 should be located on the south side of, and ad- 

 joining the barn. Sheds, substantial stone walls, 

 or close board fences should be erected at least 

 on the east and west sides, to shelter the cattle 

 from cold winds and storms — the size propor- 

 tioned to the stock to be kept in it. Excavate 

 the centre in a common form, placing the 

 earth removed upon the edges or lowest sides, 

 leaving the borders ten or twelve feet broad, of a 

 horizontal level to feed the stock upon, and from 

 two to five feet higher than the centre. This may 

 be done with a plough and scraper, or shovel and 

 hand-barrow, after the ground is broken up with 

 the plough. I used the former and was employed 

 a day and a half, with two hands and a team, in 

 fitting it to my mind. When the soil is not suffi- 

 ciently compact to hold water, the bottom should 

 be bedded with six or eight inches of clay, well 

 beat down and covered with gravel or sand. This 

 last labor is seldom required, except where ground 

 is very porous. My yards are constructed on a 

 loam, resting on a clay subsoil. Here should be 

 annually deposited, as they can be conveniently 

 collected, the weeds, coarse grass, and brakes of 

 the farm, and also the pumpkin vines and potato 

 tops. The quantity of these upon a farm is very 

 great, and is collected and brought to the yard 

 with little trouble by the teams returning from the 

 fields. And here also should be fed out or strewed 

 as litter, the hay, stalks and husks of Indian corn, 

 pea and bean haulm, and the straw of grain not 

 wanted in the stables. To still further augment 

 the mass, leached ashes and swamp earth may be 

 added to advantage. These materials will absorb 

 the liquid of the yard, and, becoming incorporated 

 with the excrementious matter, will double or tre- 

 ble the ordinary quantity of manure. During the 

 continuance of frost the excavation gives no in- 

 convenience; and when the weather is soft, the 

 borders aftbrd am])le room for the cattle. In this 

 way the urine is saved, and the w-aste incident to 

 rains. Sec, prevented. The cattle should be kept 

 constantly yarded in winter, except when let out 

 to water, and the yard frequently replenished with 

 dry litter. Upon this plan, from ten to twelve 

 loads of unfermented manure may be obtained 

 every spring from each animal ; and if the stable 

 manure is spread over the yard, the quahty of the 

 dung will be improved, and the quantity jjropor- 

 tionably increased. Any excess of liquid that may 

 remain after the dung is removed in the spring, 

 can be profitably applied to grass, grain^ or garden 

 crops. It is extensively used in Flanders, and 

 in other parts of Europe. 



"Having explained my method of procuring 

 and preserving the food of vegetables, I will pro- 

 ceed to state my practice in feeding or applying 

 it. It is given every spring to such hoed crops 

 as will do well upon coarse food, (my vegetable 



hogs and goats) These are corn, potatoes, ruta 

 baga, beans and cabbages. These consume the 

 coarser particles of the manure, which would have 

 been lost during the summer in the yard, while 

 the plough, harrow and hoe eradicate the weeds, 

 which spring from the seeds it scatters. The 

 finer parts of the food are preserved in the soil, to 

 nourish the small grains which follow. The dung 

 is spread upon the land as evenly as possible, and 

 inmiediately turned under with the plough. It is 

 thereby better distributed for the next crop, and 

 becomes intimately mixed and incor])orated with 

 the soil by subsequent tillage. Thus, upon the 

 data which I feel warranted in assuming, a farmer 

 who keeps twenty horses and neat cattle, will ob- 

 tain from his yards and stables, every spring, two 

 hundred loads of manure besides what is made in 

 summer and the product of his hog-sty. With 

 this he may manure annually ten or twelve acres 

 of corn, potatoes, &c, and manure it well. And 

 if a proper rotation of crops is adopted, he will 

 be able to keep in good heart, and progressively 

 improve sixty acres of tillage land, so that each 

 field shall be manured every four or five years, 

 on the return of the corn and potato crop." 



Dr Deane observed, that " many who have 

 good farm yards, are not so careful as they should 

 be to make the greatest advantage by them, by 

 confining the cattle continually in them during the 

 foddering season. The practice of driving cattle 

 to water, at a distance, is attended with a great 

 loss of manure. Instead of continuing in this ab- 

 surd practice, the well that serves the house, or 

 one dug for the purpose, should be so near the 

 yard, that a watering trough may reach from it 

 into the yard. Some have a well in the yard ; but 

 this is not so advisable, as the water may become 

 imjjregnated with the excrements of the cattle, and 

 rendered less palatable. He that has a large stock, 

 may save enough in manure in this way, in one 

 year, to pay him for making a well of a moderate 

 depth : Besides securing the advantage of having 

 his cattle under his eye; and of preventing their 

 straggling away, as they sometimes do. Innu- 

 merable are the accidents to which a stock are 

 exposed, by going to watering places, in winter, 

 without a driver, as they conmionly do. And 

 oftentimes, by means of snow and ice, the dilfi- 

 culty is so great, as to discourage them from going 

 to the water ; the consequence is that they suffer 

 for want of drink, and the owner is ignorant of it. 

 All these things plead strongly in favor of the 

 mode of watering I have here recommended. 

 They should not be let out, even when the ground 

 is bare : For what they get will make them to 

 winter the worse ; and they will damage the fields. 



There should bo more yards than one to a barn, 

 where divers sorts of cattle are kept. The sheep 

 should have a yard by themselves, at least ; and 

 the young stock another, that they may be wholly 

 confined to such fodder as the farmer can afford 

 them. But the principal yard may be for the cows, 

 oxen, calves and horses. And the water from the 

 well may be led into each of these yards by wooden 

 gutters. 



If the soil of the yard be clay, or a pan of very 

 hard earth, it will be the more fit for the purpose of 

 making manure, as the excrements of the cattle 

 will not be so apt to soak deep into it. Otherwise 

 a layer of clay may be laid on to retain the stale, 

 and the wash of the dung, which otherwise would 

 be almost entirely lost. 



"Some farmers seem well pleased to have awash 

 run away from their barns upon the contiguous 

 slo])ing lands. But they are not aware how much 

 they lose by it. A small quauity of land, by means 

 of it may he made too lich. But the quantity of 

 manure that is expended in doing it, if otherwise 

 employed, might be vastly more advantageous; es- 

 pecially if it were so confined as to be incorporated 

 with a variety of absorbent and dissolved substan- 

 ces ; and afterwards laid on those parts of the farm 

 where it is most wanted. 



"It is best, in this climate, that a barn yard should 

 be on the south side of a barn. It being less 

 shaded, the manure will make the faster, as it will 

 be free from frost a greater part of the year, and 

 consequently have a longer time to ferment in. 

 The feet of the cattle will also mix the materials 

 the more, which are thrown into the yard, and 

 wear them to pieces, so that they will become 

 short and fine." 



Lorain says: "My cattle yards and stalls were 

 profusely littered with corn stalks, straw, leaves, 

 <S:c; of consequence the manure for my corn 

 crops consisted principally of these substances. 

 They were ploughed under the soil early in the 

 sjirnig, but not without some difficulty, as it re- 

 quired the active exertions of a boy with a forked 

 stick to clear the head of the plough. 



",Dung well stored with litter is a good non- 

 conductor of heat. It therefore greatly retards 

 evaporation from the ground underneath it. It 

 also absorbs much moisture, and while the ground 

 above it is drier than that underneath, the mois- 

 ture is continually absorbed from the earth be- 

 low, and diilused through the soil above. Thus 

 in any soil or climate the ground is much mois- 

 ter (luring a dry time, where dung well stored 

 with litter is used, than where dccom])Oscd dung 

 has been apidied, provided the cultivation is cal- 

 culated to suffer the dimg to remain undisturbed 

 and closely covered with the soil." 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



SiTtTRDiT, August 4, 1S32. 



Fruits Presented. — By Mr S. VValker, Koxbury, 

 five varieties of Gooseberries, viz : Plough Boy, 

 Senecal Blucher, Millings Crown Bob, White 

 Smith, Golden Queen and Lancaster Lad ; also, a 

 fine specimen of Large Red Currants. By Col. J. 

 Wade, Woburn, a basket of very large size Scotch 

 Gooseberries. By Mr Abel Houghton, Jr. Lynn, 

 three varieties of Gooseberries, viz : Ashton's 

 Seedling, Smooth Yellow, and White Rock. 



Flowers Exhibited. — By Mr Walker of Roxbury, 

 and Mr Hougton of Lynn, very fine. A good spec- 

 imen of Camellia Japonica from Rev. J. Pierpont. 



Two tubs of grape vines sent to the Society by 

 M. C. Perry, Esq. of the U. S. Ship Concord will 

 be distributed on Saturday next at 11 o'clock. 

 Per order. E. VOSE. 



JVool. — A few sales have been made by the 

 dealers to the manufacturers at 33 cts. for graded 

 wool, and 44 cts. for Merino and Saxony, cash. 

 Some farmers have sold their fleeces at 46 to 48 

 cts. on a long credit, and others at 40 to 45 cts. for 

 cash, for their best lots of Saxony and Merino. 

 The purchasers do not seem inclined to advance 

 at all, and some lots have been refused at previ- 

 ous offers. Those manufacturers who are not 

 supplied seem willing to supply themselves at 40 

 to 45 cts, for prime lots. — Poughkeepsie paper. 



