370 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



THE MANAGEMENT AND APPLICATION OF BAEN- 

 YAED MANCEE. 



The barn-jard is, to every farmer, a source of 

 inexhaustible wealth. It lies at the very founda- 

 tion of success in all his operations. Although the 

 first object almost, that should claim his attention, 

 it is, as a general thing, the very last ; and some 

 have even placed their barn-yards on hill-sides, or 

 with running streams passing through them, that 

 the manure might be washed away, " out of the 

 road.'''' But everything in the shape of manure — 

 that is, all fertilizers— whether solid, liquid, or 

 gaseous, should be as carefully preserved as the 

 gold and silver in the farmer's house. 



As each crop takes something from the soil, if 

 nothing is replaced, it must ere long become ex- 

 hausted. Manuring is the operation by which the 

 fertility is restored ; and the farmer may just as well 

 look for the formation of flesh and fat upon an ox 

 which obtains no food, as to expect a crop from a 

 noil which he never feeds. The ox* may pick up a 

 scanty supply of straw or other coarse food, and 

 thus manage to live ; and in like manner, the soil, 

 receiving a certain portion of fertilizing matter from 

 the atmosphere and rains, may not lose all its fer- 

 tility. But like the fattening ox, the soil, to pro- 

 duce good crops, must be well fed. As we thus 

 perceive the inestimable value of manure, let us 

 now see how to save it. 



Some kinds of manure, as the excrements of cat- 

 tle, hogs and sheep, are "too cold" to be of very 

 great value in their natural state ; while horse ma- 

 nure is too heating. A proper Avay of managing 

 them, would be to mix them together, that they 

 might naturally improve each other. They should 

 be spread over the barn-yard, and the stock per- 

 mitted to run over the mass, which would thus be- 

 come thoroughly mixed. The straw from the 

 horse stables would absorb the liquid portions, 

 and in turn the '■^colder'''' portions would prevent 

 the evaporation of gases — many of which are very 

 useful as fertilizers. The barn-yard should slope 

 from all sides to the centre, so as to prevent the 

 escape of the liquid portions. Street scrapings, 

 muck, and all other substances which would assist 

 in absorbing and retaining the valuable constituents, 

 should be added whenever practicable. 



There is a great difference of opinion with re- 

 gard to the best manner of application, but it is my 

 opinion that tlie most fermanent benefits are to be 

 derived by plowing it under. It may not improve 

 the first year's crop so much as a top-dressing— 

 harrowed in with seed — but after this, it is again 

 brought to the surface, and each plowing has a 

 tendency to render the whole depth of soil more 

 fertile. If the field is to receive but one dressing, 

 it may be most beneficial to harrow it in, as the 

 water has a tendency, although very gradual, to 

 wash it deeper. But where a coat can be afforded 

 every few years, it should always be turned under 

 with the plow, which will pay well in time, if not 

 immediately. d. stkeet, 



Salei}>, Ohio, 1858. 



Corn in Indiana. — At the late State Fair in 

 Indiana, a fai-mer of that State presented a speci- 

 men of corn, with a statement that a field on the 

 Ohio bottom, of twenty acres, yielded one hundred 

 and thirty-six bushels per acre. 



HINTS WORTH HEEDING- 



"We heartily commend to the attention of our 

 readers the subjoined extract from an address by 

 D. G. Mitchell, Esq., (Ik. Marvel,) at the Con- 

 necticut State Fair. 



" But there is something worth living for besides 

 money. That is very good, but is not all. With 

 the rest, let us raise a crop of good ideas. While 

 you are a farmer, remember th£it you are a man, 

 with duties and responsibilities. Live down the 

 old brutal notion that a farmer must be uncouth, 

 uneducated, and unthinking — a mere plodder. 



"You are brought in immediate contact with 

 the great heart of civilization. You can not get out 

 of the buzz of the toiling world. The trill of the 

 wonder-working wires, and the rumble of the loco- 

 motive (the thunder threat of nations) come to 

 your once secluded hill- side. 



Move toward a better life. Do not keep your 

 boys corn-shelling in the long winter evenings. — 

 Make your farm a place that your sons and daugh- 

 ters cannot help loving. Cultivate the trees — they 

 are God's messengers. Don't say that you care 

 nothing for looks. You do care, else why did you 

 build that two-story white house, with blinds, and 

 a cupola into which you never go. Or why did 

 you, years ago, carefully brush your coat, and pull 

 up your shirt collar, when you were starting on a 

 Sunday evening to visit the good woman v/Lio now 

 shares your home ? 



Care much more for books and pictures. Don't 

 keep a solemn parlor, into which you go but once 

 a month, with the parson or sewing society. Hang 

 around your walls pictures which shall tell stories 

 of mercy, hope, courage, faith, and charity. Make 

 your living room the largest and most cheerful in 

 the house. Let the place be such that when your 

 boy has gone to distant land?, or even when, per- 

 haps, he clings to a single plank in the lonely wa- 

 ters of the wide ocean, the thought of the still 

 homestead shall come across the desolation, bring- 

 ing always light, hope and love. 



Have no dungeon about your house — no roo-m 

 you never open — no blinds that are always shut. 



Don't teach your daughters French before they 

 can weed a flower-bed or cling to a side-saddle. — 

 And daughters! do not be ashamed of the pruning 

 knife. Bring to your door the richest flowers from 

 the woods ; cultivate the friendship of birds ; scorn 

 the scamp that levels his murderous gun at the 

 blue-bird or the robin. Study botany, learn to love 

 natm-e, and seek a higher cultivation than the 

 fashionable world would give you." 



Mules vs. Horses. — Which is the most profit- 

 able animal to raise, the horse or the mule ? 



1st. An average lot of two-year-old mules will 

 sell for as nuieh as an average lot of three-year-old 

 colts, and perhaps more. 2d. It does not require 

 the same amount of food for a mule as for the 

 horse. 3d. The mule is less liable to disease and 

 unsoundness. 4tli. The mule lives to a much great- 

 er age than the horse. 5th. The mule will per- 

 form more labor, according to his size, on feed oa 

 which a horse would starve. — X, Y. 



