3U 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APRILS, 1843. 



PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS FOR THE PLACE 

 AND MANAGEMENT OF THE DUNG- 

 HEAP. 



Farmers have generally found out the advantage 

 of having a dung-pit instead of a dung heap ; but 

 still the rich drainage of the dung is much 

 of it allowed to run away ; the urine from the sta- 

 bles, &c., does not lialf of it run into the dung, 

 though it is the best part, the essence of the 

 wliole ; and the privy manure, which is better still, 

 is mostly neglected altogether. 



All drainings from the stables, cowhouses, and 

 styes, should run into the pit, and the overflow- 

 ings should be caught in another pit, tu throw back 

 in dry weather. 



The following is a cheap and effeclual method 

 of doing all this : — When convenient, the pit 

 should be on the north side of a wall, or of some 

 trees, to shade oft' the sun ; or under a shed, to 

 keep off both the sun and rain ; but these advan- 

 taoes cannot always be had without too much cost. 



Having selected the best place for your pit, first 

 lay in way soil, peat, or any soil as different as 

 possible from that of your furm, and give it a hol- 

 low surface, like a great tea-saucer. Upon this 

 lay potatoe stalks, and any other vegetable mat- 

 ters, easy to ferment, and hereupon a layer of 

 dung. Ne.xt a layer of vegetable matter, as peat, 

 turf, bark, rotten weeds, ferns, leaves, or any kind 

 of dead vegetable, to increase your quantity ; and 

 so every week, cover your dung from the stables, 

 styes, &c., with three or four times as much dead 

 vegetable matter ; thus making up your heap in al- 

 ternate layers. The urine should all run into the 

 pit from stables and all, by narrow drains, where it 

 will not be much e.\posed to evaporation; and ano- 

 ther such drain should lead from it to a lower pit, 

 to catch the overflowings when there are any; and 

 keep them to throw back upon the diyig in dry 

 time.s. This lower pit should be deeper and 

 smaller than the other, and must never be allowed 

 to overflow, as that would be waste. It may con- 

 tain cabbage stumps, and other things difficult to 

 work, which may be thrown back upon the heap as 

 they rot. 



The lower pit may be used as a store of liquid 

 manure, for watering young corn, in May or June ; 

 which gives it a start, and much strengthens its 

 growth. In leaky ground, the bottom of the pits 

 should be staiincheil with clay, and stones or gravel 

 stamped in, to harden it. 



The privy should discharge into the large pit, if 

 possible, or else into the small one; and coal ashes 

 (but not wood ashes,) arc good to throw whi.'ro this 

 comes out. Saw-dust or turf-dust from the stacks 

 do very well. House-washings, as soap-suds, &c., 

 should also be thrown on the heap ; but the wash of 

 the country, and heavy floods of rain should not be 

 allowed to enter it, but be led into the meadows by 

 other channels. 



In wet seasons, the top should be slanted to turn 

 off the rain. 



Each layer of dung being covered with a layer 

 of peat or other dead vegetable matter, the whole 

 heap, when finished, should be crusted over with 

 way soil, or other earth, to retain the vapois. 



The fermentation will be slower or quicker, as 

 it is more or less covered and compressed. 



Wherever your lieaps are made, whether in the 

 yard or the field, give them a bed of some sort to 

 absorb the drainage, and crust them over with soil, 

 and mix all up with the dung before spreading. 

 The drainage carries down the strength of the 



heap ; sometimes enough to kill the seed in the 

 place where the heap stood, whil.<t it would have 

 been of the greatest benefit if spread out with the 

 dung. — Ph/moulh {Eng.) Hetald. 



MANAGEMFNT OF CALVES. 



Have as many calf bows made in winter as you 

 expect to have calves in the spring; hickory is the 

 best wood for these; split it out and whittle or 

 shave it down to the size of a whipstock, leave a 

 knob on one end, and cut in a notch at the other 

 end. The average lenglh before bending, should 

 be from 18 to 28 incnes, according to size and age 

 ofthec.-ilf. The cap to go over the ends of the 

 how has a hole 3-4 of an inch at one end, and a 

 hole the same size 2 inches from the other end. 

 An inch from this hole towards the end, bore a 

 half-inch hole, and cut a mortice of half an inch 

 from one to the oilier, so that when the bow is put 

 into the three-quarter hole to the neck it springs 

 back through to the end of the inortise and remains 

 stationary until removed. 



For ties we u'ould recommend light trace chains, 

 with a small ring at one end large enough for the 

 bow to pass through, and a fixture at the other end 

 to fasten it to the calf's trough or manger, with a 

 swivel to keep the calf from twisting up the chain, 

 which any common blacksmith can make and put 

 in. These bows will last for many years as we 

 can testify from our own experience, and can al- 

 ways bo ready whenever there is a new calf 

 dropped. The advantages of tying up calves in a 

 calf house until weaned, is to halter-break and 

 make them perfectly tame and docile, so that they 

 never forget it ; it also accustomed them to eat at 

 early age. Hay, or new mown grass, roots, oats, 

 shorts, or Indian meal, are usually much cheaper 

 food than milk, it can consequently be saved for 

 family use by substituting these kinds of feed, and 

 the calf be pushed forward with about the same ra- 

 pidity. Water is essential once a day, notwith- 

 standing the calf may have milk morning and 

 evening. It is important to keep the calves out of 

 the scorching sun and away from the tormenting 

 flies and woodticks in summer; and from pelting 

 storms and oold at other seasons of the year. By 

 keeping them well bedded with straw and throwing 

 it out under a cover, such as may bo made cheaply 

 from loose boards laid upon poles in crotches, and 

 mixing muck, sods, or road scrapings with it, a 

 good pile of rich manure may be made in a few 

 months from this source alone. — Amer. Jlgricul- 

 turist. 



From the same. 



LUCERN FOR SOILING.— SUGAR BEET. 

 Messrs. A. B. & R. L. Allen, — I noticed in the 

 last number of your pajier, an article on the culti- 

 vation of rye, vetches, peas, and corn, sown broad- 

 cast and cutting them for soiling stock. Now I 

 s'hould much prefer lucern to any of these, for an 

 acre of it will keep five cows from the middle of 

 May to the middle of October, if cut and given 

 them when green, and it may be cut five times for 

 soiling, and three times for hay during the sum- 

 mer. It will produce three tons of hay to the acre 

 the first cutting, and one and a half tons each suc- 

 ceeding cutting. 



It flourishes most luxuriantly in deep, rich, fria- 

 ble loams, though it will also thrive in any good, 

 dry soil ; but the land must be kept free as possi- 

 ble from weeds, otherwise its growth will be great- 



ly impeded. No land is too rich for it, and I 

 soil must be deep and dry, otherwise it is usele 

 to attempt to grow lucern. The potatoe cr 

 heavily dressed with long manure is a good prep; 

 ation for it, and the ground should be plowed 

 deeply as possible, as it is a tap-rooted plant, and 

 a loose sandy soil the roots have been known 

 run to the depth of four feet; the seed should 

 sown from the 1st to the 15th of May. It may 

 sown on a crop of wheat, rye, or barley ; Iwer 

 pounds of seed should be allowed to the acre, 

 put in with a light harrow, and the operati 

 finished with the roller. The ground should 

 harrowed every spring to destroy grass and wee 

 and occasionally top-dressed with bone dust, ash 

 or rotted manure, as best suits the convenience 

 the farmer. It is an excellent food for horses a 

 cows whether in a dry or green state ; and wh 

 well laid down and properly attended to, it « 

 last ten years. It is quite as hardy as red clov 

 and much more valuable. 



I have raised the sugar beet for several yea 

 and think them very valuable food for stock, mil 

 cows particularly, making them give an abundaii 

 of the richest milk, quite equal to that produc 

 from grass ; they are also very good for hogs, 

 have fed them to my breeding sows and store ho| 

 together with the wash of the kitchen, and th 

 are now in as good order as any fanner need < 

 sire ; but a Berkshire will get fat where a razi 

 back would starve. Respectfully, W. 



From the same. 



PORTABLE MANURES. 



These are very valuable to the farmer at a d 

 tance from towns, one load being, in many cas 

 sufficient for several acres. They generally foi 

 or forward the crop, without doing much to enri 

 the soil with humus. 



Salt, 1 ton (value 253.) is enough for 10 to 

 acres top dressing, though much more is ue 

 when plowed in to kill weeds, &c. For this p' 

 pose a ton may go to 3 or 4 acres. 



Soot is an excellent top dressing, twenty bin 

 els per acre ; perhaps still better with two or thi 

 cwt. salt, just damped to prevent flying about 

 spreading. It should be sown upon wheat in ca 

 evenings, when rain is expected. 



Gypsum, or clover, when wet with dew or rs 

 and the weather clearing, that it may stick on t 

 leaf, 5 or G cwt. per acre. 



Bone-dust, excellent to drill in with turnip eei 

 10 to 20 bushels per acre ; and better mixed w 

 half or quarter as much wood ashes. A top dre 

 ing of the turnips, after hoeing ; of gypsum, 3 c 

 and salt 1 cwt. per acre, would probably help I 

 bone-dust. 



Nitrate of soda, and some other more ex pens 

 manures, seem to pay very well, when judiciou 

 used ; but the object of this paper being to help 

 small farmer forward, with but little outlay, tl 

 need not be dwelt on here. 



It will be well, however, for the farmer to kn 

 that lime, in compost with three or four times 

 much ditch or pond mud, laid out not very thi 

 and occasionally turned, produces nitrate, moM 

 less, according to the quality of the mud. 

 I am, sir, yours, &c. &c. 



J. Prideadx 



There arrived in this country in 1842, 110,! 

 emigrants, mostly from Ireland and Germany. 



