No. 6. Variefiea, Properties, and Classifieation of IVIieui. 



173 



that the essential properties of farm-yard 

 manure iniy be retained and applied to a^ri- 

 cnltnral purposes, niidiT a cleaner innde of 

 application, and with e(pially J^ood otlbct to 

 the crop, and very probably more likely to 

 meet the approbation of the farmer. As it 

 is the fashion of the times to decry lonir es- 

 tablished rules and customs before new sys- 

 tems are perfectly modelled, I may safely de- 

 clare, that it is almost impossible to conceive 

 a more improper receptacle for manure to re- 

 tain its essential properties, than the o-ene- 

 rality of farmyards, l.et any rellectinpfman 

 look into one of these foldinjr yards durinj^ a 

 heavy rain in winter, and he will soon ob- 

 serve the drip from all the roofs of the houses 

 collected in a deep pool amon^: tiie manure. 

 The manure thus lies macerating' for several 

 months — but the farmers say that the manure 

 water runs on to the meadoio — yet I can as- 

 sure them that grass-roots take up liquid ma- 

 nure but slowly, and the quick succession of 

 heavy rain ut that season of the year, does 

 not permit the retention of one-fittieth part 

 of what the dung has been deprived of. But 

 the ne.xt deprivation of essential matter that 

 manure generally undergoes is worse than 

 this, which is, by throwing it up into high 

 heaps to rot ; but to burn would be a more 

 proper expression. Manure getting both 

 washed and burned, it is not surprising that 

 it is deprived of three-fifths of its original 

 properties. I well recollect, when a lad, of 

 being employed to drag down one of those 

 rotting heaps at the risk of burning my feet, 

 as well as receiving a lasting injury to my 

 lumber vertebra. 



Several years ago I was finding fault with 

 an e.xperienced agriculturist for throwing his 

 manure too thick together, when his answer 

 was, that he always gave his men an extra 

 jug of cider to get them to throw it as high 

 as the barn if they could. I asked. Don't you 

 find the middle of tlie heap as white as your 

 shirt ? Yes, said he, but I never could tell 

 how it was; and added, that it was so dry 

 sometimes that the wind blew it out of the 

 carts. I advised him to save his extra jug 

 of cider, and lay up his manure only from two 

 to three feet in thickness, and not allow a 

 foot to be set on it; but 1 must not anticipate 

 my remarks. 



I think I have made out a sufficient case 

 of condemnation asjainst the present system 

 of management of fixrm-yard manure; and 

 any farmer that will condescend to try the 

 following plan but once, will assuredly aban- 

 don his old practice. The plan is simply 

 this: Let all super-abundant water be kept 

 from the manure during the time it lies in 

 the fold-yard. This is easily accomplished, 

 by having the barns, sheds, &c. provided 

 with spouts to convey the water into drains 



or into tanks for use. The fold-yards thus 

 rendered comparatively dry, the small (juan- 

 tity of manure water that would drain from 

 the dung would easily be contained in pore- 

 less tanks, and applied to the iiuailow at a 

 I time when the grasses were growing and the 

 ground dry, both of which would take up the 

 manure before the rains came to wash it into 

 the brooks. 



t When the manure is put into rotting 

 heaps, never allow them to be more than 

 from two to three feet in thickness, accord- 

 ing to the goodness. What is safe guide in 

 this process is, to have a few sticks stuck in- 

 to the heaps, and as soon as they feel warm 

 to the hand, let the manure be turned and 

 laid a little ihiimer; and should they get hot 

 a second time turn the manure again. This, 

 in most cases, will be found sufficient, pro- 

 vided the dung and straw have been well 

 mi.xed during the process of turning; and, in 

 the course of a month or five weeks, the ma- 

 nure will be sufficiently rotten for every agri- 

 cultural purpose, and retain nearly,if not all, 

 its original properties ; and, what is also of 

 consequence to the farmer, it does not take 

 quite so much labor as the old plan of throw- 

 insr it as high as the barn. 



On the Varieties, Properties, and Classic 

 flcation of Wlicat. 



[Continued.] 

 ON THE DISPOSITIOiV OF WIIE.^T, TO SPORT. 



Having doubted the general tendency of 

 wheat to degenerate, I will now endeavor to 

 show how such an accident may occur. From 

 careful observation, it appears that some va- 

 rieties if sown the same day, dift'er in their 

 period of flowering many days ; even ten or 

 twelve intervening. Hence a farmer who 

 might be desirous of cultivating two or three 

 sorts on his firm, by attending to this circum- 

 stance, would scarcely stand a chance of in- 

 termixing his crop : as fecundation could only 

 take place at the time that each variety 

 blooms. 



He miijht further increase the difference of 

 the period, by sowing the earliest kind on the 

 warmest exposition. Where the varieties 

 flowered at the same period, there would cer- 

 tainly be dangerof alteration in a future crop. 

 The knowledge of the period of blooming of 

 every variety should therefore become a sci- 

 ence. 



It is very extraordinary that some sub-va- 

 rieties, (they should be called,) have a predis- 

 position to sport, or to alter their appearance. 

 A fine red sort, No. 7, (see the first table, 

 Cab. page 47,) was sown with the others, pure 

 apparently, but to my great surprise, even to 

 that of Professor La Gasca, who witnessed 

 the whole arrangement of it, and classed the 



