THE GENESEE FARMER. 



81 



They were email and not hardy — produced about 

 ttiree pounds of wool per fleece. Lately tliey liad 

 given place to the Vermont Merinos, which pro- 

 duced four pounds of wool per fleece. Farmers in 

 his neighborhood had injured their meadows by 

 turning sheep on them in the spring. One man in 

 Lanesboro' fattens lambs — has them dropped in 

 January and sells them in May at three dollars per 

 head. 



Mr. Flower, of Agawam, referred to the Merino 

 sheep introduced by the late Hon. Isaac 0. Bates, 

 of Northampton, forty years ago. Farmers are 

 now keeping a cross from these sheep with some 

 larger breed, and they are regarded as more profit- 

 able. But as other branches of farming had been 

 found Tnore advantageous, sheep-keeping had de- 

 ohned in the neighborhood where he resided. Still, 

 sheep were useful in mixed husbandry. 



Mr. Andrews, of West Roxbury, stated that he 

 was keeping 130 sheep, mostly for the purpose of 

 producing fat lambs. He had no difficulty in sell- 

 ing lambs which were dropped in February and 

 March at five dollars per head in May. He had a 

 few yearling CotswoJds, bred by Mr. Bradley, of 

 Brattleburo', Vt., tiie weight of which is from 139 

 to 150 pounds each. The fleeces of the ewes 

 weighed from 12 to 14 pounds each, that of the 

 ram 15 pounds 10 ounces, unwashed. He feeds his 

 slieejj. oti clover hay, straw and cotton-seed meal. 

 The latter cost $30 per tun, though it is now 

 dearer. He spoke strongly in favor of rape as a 

 crop to he fed ofl:' by sheep. 



Mr. .Stephen M. Allen spoke of the importance 

 of having a regular growth in wool in order to 

 make a strong staple, and to have it color uni- 

 formly. 



SAVING AND APPLICATION OF MANTTEE. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: The key to successful 

 agriculture may be said to lie in the manure iieap of 

 every farmer in the Eastern States. Land requires 

 feeding with some kind of fertilizers, in order to be 

 kept in good condition, the same as an animal does 

 to be kept in flesh. No crop can be grown upon 

 any soil, except grass, without drawing therefrom 

 certain constituents which are" necessary to grow 

 every crop; and this deficit must be made good 

 with miinure of some kind, or the land will deteri- 

 orate, and ultimately become barren. 



Now, Nature has ordained that the stock kept 

 by the farmer shall produce in excrement every 

 constituent that crops lake from the land ; and no 

 farmer ever need to go beyond his own barn-yard 

 to produce the greatest possible crops of anything, 

 provided that he keeps live stock in proportion to 

 the fertilizing requirements of his farm. 



But one of the most important questions of the 

 day is, how shall barn-yard manure be saved and 

 applied to the sod ? 



Many farmers, no doubt, think that there is no 

 art, no skill nor science in this matter, and con- 

 sider a man quite "green" who shall, at this late 

 day, seek for knowledge on that subject. 



A m.'in of this character was seen last season 

 mixing lime and ashes with his barn-yard manure ; 

 and on being questioned as to the benefits to be 

 derived from such a proceeding, replied, " why, sir, 

 tliat's the stuff that brings out the real essence of 

 the dung, and it goes all through the compost l^p, 



and m.-ikes it all alike." Yes, it diil make it "all 

 ahke," by setting the ammonia free, wliich is the 

 oidy really valuable quality in any barn-yard man- 

 ure, and allowing it to escape into the at'no8[;h«re. 

 That farmer, wiiile working his composts, said, 

 "that's capital manure; what a rich smeil it has!" 

 But a few weeks later, on carting it to his^ field, he 

 could not perceive much of any "smell" at all, for 

 the reason that its virtues had all gone off into 

 the atmosphere. 



Now, if tiii.H m^m had used gypsum (plaster) ia 

 composting, he would have been wise, as tliat acta 

 as an absorbent of the ammonia, and prevents its 

 escape till it is in the soil, when the plaster gives 

 out the ammonia by degrees, as the crops require it. 



The best way to save manure is to have a stable 

 so made, that all the ui-ine from the stock can be 

 mixed with the excrement, and the whole thrown 

 into a cellar that is water-tight. If the dung of cattle 

 and horses be thus disposed of, it will be sufficient- 

 ly moist to prevent fire-fanging, if w«]l mixed in 

 about equal parts, which should always be done; 

 — that is, when the stock is about equally divided 

 in horses and cattle. Dry horse njanure alone 

 would be injured in such a cellar, if not moistened 

 and stirred. 



The next best way of saving manure, is to mix 

 as above and place it on the surface of the ground, 

 but under cover; and the nest best, and only way 

 that every farmer has at command, is to throw the 

 dung into the barn-yard, whicli should be excava- 

 ted with a hollow in tiie centre, and lined with a 

 stitf clay, and keep the manure well covered with 

 litter, to. prevent the escape of ammonia. Manure 

 thus treated should not be removed till it has had 

 time to decompose. I refer, of course, to the lit- 

 ter mixed with it, which should be abundant. 



My system is, to leave the manure made in the 

 winter in the yard, to wliich I add that made from 

 my cows, which I keep in the yard all summer, 

 and feed them on green crops, sown for that pur- 

 pose, or grass in the season of it. They lie under 

 a shed in stormy weather, and their dung is scat- 

 tered about the yard, as I <lesire it, and being well 

 covered with an abundance of green litter, no am- 

 monia escapes, and all becomes well decomposed 

 by fall. 



In the month of November, or early in Decem- 

 ber, the manure is thrown into two or three heaps, 

 made as compact as possible, and covered with lit- 

 ter ; aiid as soon as we have good sledding it is 

 drawn to the fields and placed in oblong heaps, as 

 near where it is to be used as possible, and pro- 

 tected with litter, till the ground thaws, when a 

 slight covering of earth is thrown over it, which 

 remains till the manure is used, and which keeps 

 the ammonia from escaping. 



It depends, however, on the distance one has to 

 haul his manure, and the usual state of the roads 

 in April and May, whether it be advisable to follow 

 my system. But in Central New York, one fine 

 day in May is worth to most farmers a week ia 

 winter, unless some important job of hauling saw- 

 logs or wood is to be attended to. Indeed, it is 

 sometimes with the greatest difficulty that we caa 

 get in our crops in season, owing to the backward- 

 ness of our springs, which brings nearly all the 

 spring work in planting into a few days; and, 

 therefore, if the manure that a farmer requires in a 



