126 



Cow House or Stable. 



Vol. II. 



three kinds of earth, viz : clay, sand and 

 lime; and that lime in some of its combina- 

 tions exists in wheat, both in the straw and 

 in the kernel. In some soils, fertile in other 

 respects, lime may either have no existence, 

 or be found in very minute portions, and be 

 soon exhausted. If lime be a necessary con- 

 stituent for wheat, and does not naturally 

 exist in the soil in which we attempt to raise 

 wheat, it must be supplied by art, or wheat 

 will not grow. Or, if native lime exists in 

 the soil in small quantities, the land may 

 bear wheat till the lime is exhausted, and 

 then become incapable of producing that 

 plant, till a fresh supply of lime, marl, pul- 

 verized bones, or some other calcareous sub- 

 stance is added. 



John Young, Esq. in an able work entitled 

 Letters of Agricola, p. 299, states as follows, 

 viz: 



"It cannot be denied since the plentiful 

 use of lime has been adopted,* lands in Eu- 

 rope will produce wheat, which otherwise 

 were incapable of bearing it. The rye lands 

 of Herefordshire which were reported by 

 Dr. Beale, in the year 1636, as incapable of 

 producing wheat, have been so much ferti- 

 lized by the subsequent introduction of this 

 fossil manure as to be successfully applied to 

 the growth of that and every other grain. 

 This and similar effects may be referable in 

 part to the subserviency of the earth in the 

 more perfect formation of the vegetable 

 structure ; for we know that all birds if con 

 fined in a cage and denied all success to lime, 

 will lay eggs with soft shells. So wheat 

 may labor under some such analagous imper- 

 fection, unless the carbonate of lime comes 

 within the range of its roots." 



Dr. Anderson, a celebrated British writer 

 on agriculture, gave an account of a field, 

 which had a top dressing of lime for the pur- 

 pose of raising wheat, but the lime by acci- 

 dent was not applied to a small patch in the 

 field, and in that patch there was no crop, 

 while every part of the field to which lime 

 was applied, produced fine wheat. It would 

 be easy to adduce many more instances to 

 prove that lime in Great Britain is considered 

 not only useful, but indispensable, for the 

 production of wheat. A British farmer we 

 believe never jundertakes to .raise wheat, 

 without the use of lime as a manure, and 

 American fiirmers, (unless a great change 

 has recently taken place in that branch of 

 husbandry,) rarely makes any use of lime as 

 manure for wheat. 



To be continued. 



Custom in infancy becomes nature in old 

 age. 



* Marshall's Review of the Couuiy Reports to the 

 Board of Agr., vol. 2, p. 247. 



€o\v House or Stable. 



The floor under a cow-house should be 

 very tight, so that none of the stale may be 

 lost, which, when mixed with other sub- 

 stances, is of great value as manure. The 

 most healthy stables are those which are 

 open to the east, or have an eastern aspect. 

 It is a common practice to build them too 

 close. The stable should never be completely 

 closed up, however cold the weather may be, 

 altiiough it is desirable that strong draughts 

 of cold or damp air should be guarded against, 

 especially in winter. It may be held as a 

 general rule that stables or cow-houses are 

 too close when on entering the breath is 

 affected, or any smell of urine can be per- 

 ceived. 



It is also very important to keep cow-houses 

 or cattle stables clean and well littered. 

 Dung left in stables soon renders the air un- 

 wholesome, and is the cause of disorders. 

 Cows in a stable should be allowed a square 

 space of at least six feet each way for each 

 cow. Two or three ventilators near the 

 ground on the north side afford, at a trifling 

 expense, an excellent way of renewing or 

 sweetening the air in stables in the summer 

 time, and on the south side in winter, with- 

 out occasioning draughts ; and these may be 

 shut when necessary, by means of straw, or, 

 what is better, a sliding door. 



It is of no small importance that the floor 

 of a cow-house be very tight, so that none of 

 the stale be lost, which is of great value as 

 manure, when mixed with other substances. 

 A farmer might as well lose the dung as the 

 urine of his beasts. 



"The common cattle stalls of our country 

 are so ill contrived, and so straitened in their 

 dimensions, that the cattle are constrained to 

 lie down in part in their own dung. This 

 dries' and forms a thick coat on their hind 

 quarters, from which they are not relieved 

 till they shed their hair in the spring. They 

 are thus rendered tmcomforlable. To be 

 uncomfortable is to suffer some degree oipain; 

 and no one will suppose that animals in pain 

 can thrive, or preserve their plight with the 

 same food equally with others perfectly at 

 ease. Even hogs, though prone to wallow 

 in the mire in warm weather, are always 

 pleased with a dry bed, and thrive better 

 when kept clean."* 



The following from the Memoirs of the 

 Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, is ex- 

 tracted from a letter from R. Smith to J. H. 

 Powell, and will be of use in directing the 

 most economical management of dairy cattle. 

 My barn is constructed according to the 

 best Pennsylvania models. The yard is to 



* Colonel Pickering. 



