NEW ENGLA ND FARMEI'l. 



Publisheil by John B. Risski.l at (he conur uC Coiifjrc.-fs ami ]>imlrill 



^OL. V. 



B08T0N, FRIDAY, OCTO^iEil (j, 1,S26. 



■KSSKMir..\, tliiitor. 



No. II, 



OHIGINAL PAPERS^_^^ 



ESSAY 7)N^M A NUR ES, ^ 



Hiited to the C'htshirc, .V. H..Jgiiciillur(<l Soci- 

 ety, by LuKi: Howe, Esq., /or ichich a prc- 



iitiuin teas awarded by said Society. 

 he iiicrea.-iiig attention to agriculture, aided 

 ato 1 lieuiical discoveries, has e.vcited that in- 

 ^st in the subject, which its importance merits. 

 i incJeO'! singular, that it should have been lett 



:ip|)li 



he present uge to make some of the greatest '"S '■'"'''■ annual tasks. 



iniluenco, which n proper managrineut ai 



cation of manure have on hi.s crops. He 



inconsistencies, and a want of system in his hus- 

 bandry, lie fences in his fields, and carefully se- 

 cures his crops ; but vyliile liis cattle are consum- 

 ing them in the winter, they are permitted to drop 

 their dung in the road, and by the side of streams, 

 to be washed from his farm. Like a severe task 

 master, he makes t!io same exactions of Ins fields, 

 without supplying them with the means of perlorm- 



Theyiirm yard n the greatest source of manure. 

 On its situation and construction will depend con- 

 siderably the quantity, which will be made and 

 preserved. These objects require, that the yard 

 should not be too extensive, be ri'ised at the bor- 

 ders, anil have a good and firm bottom. A learn- 

 ed and venerable writer in the N. II. Piitriot, over 

 the signature of " Cincinnatus ;" and the first No. 

 nation on the subject, which would have con- > °' '''^ N. H. Agricultural Repository have botii 



i-ovenients in the first occupation of man, the 

 iv?,tion of the soil. This fact is an evidence, 

 tiie favourable influence of science on practical 

 ban .ry. 



Virgil united with his powers of poetry a 



!'V. ledge of chemistry, his Georgics would noton- 

 a\e kindled in his countrymen a love of agricul- 

 3, hut have introduced that train of correct in 



led to progress, while science itself slumbered, 

 vould not then perhaps, have been sr.i,',, that 



given very particular and judicious directions, for 



tlie construction of barn yards ; which ought to be 



e.xpiration (4' the It^th century, agriculture was , o'^served by every farmer.* After these precau 



10 hi>?lirr state of improvement, than during the 

 s of Vir il and Cincinnatus. 

 ivery farmer should have, at least some gene 

 principles, to govern him in the cultivation of 

 farm. Mere matter of fact knowhdf^e, though 

 y useful, is too limited for the various circum- 



iions, tl'ere will be at times overflouings whicli 

 •ill carry from the yard a portion of the most nu- 

 tritious manure. This would require, vhat these 

 overflowings be received by land, which may he 

 benefitted thereby. Bill if circumstances will not 

 permit this, an excavation or a cistern, might b 



nces and changes of husbandry. lie need not '"^'•^' ''* '■'"^ lowest part, either just without or 



'e a minute knowledge of chemistry, but shonhi 

 sess that general information of those princi- 

 is which have a near relation to all his opera- 



DS. 



The main points of inquiry in the art of agricul- 

 ■e, are how to give fertility to weak and sterile 

 Is, and to renovate such as are worn out by fre- 

 3nt cropping, with the least e.vpense. These 

 ;ects are, principally, effected by the due appli- 

 ;ion of animal and vegetable substances, in the 

 te of decomposition ; and of those articles, 

 lich promote this state in these materials in the 

 1, and are themselves convertible into vegetable 

 triment. Whatever is productive of these ef- 

 ts, may correctly be called manure ; and in 

 Dportiou, as these materials abound, to a certain 

 gree, is the fertility of soil. 



It has been discovered, that, such being the veg- 

 dble economy, plants are incapable of absorbing 

 lid substances, however minutely divided. This 

 ct alone would confute the theory of TuU ano 

 hers of his day, that earthy matter is the true 

 •getable nutriment; and that manure is only use- 

 1 in mechanically pulveri.:ing the soil. To pro- 

 ice this necessary state of solution of animal and 

 ?gctab!e substances, is the principal use of fer- 

 entation. 



As the earth unmixed with these ingredients, is 

 srfectly sterile, it is a wise provision of the Au- 

 lor of nature, that the vegetable growth of one 

 ear miy become vegetable food for the succeed- 

 ig. But the products of cultivated land, are re- 

 loved for the sustenance of man and animals. It, 

 uerefore, depends on the good management of the 

 armer, \\ hether he restores a sufficient substitute 

 or whit he has taken from his farm, to continue 

 ts fertility. 

 Every farmer does not correctly appreciate the 



within the yard. 



Sir Joim Sinclair says " the more opulent (Flem- 

 ish) fanners pave, and line with bricks, the recep- 

 tacles of their dung, which is kept constantly 

 [dunged in lirjuid matter. The fibrous parts of 

 vegetables are, in this manner, completely decom 

 posed, and four tons of such m;inure will go as far 



as five collected and kept with less [precaution. 



As most farmers will not be at the expense of lin- 

 ing these receptacles, they should furnish them 

 abundar.tly with absorbing and putrescent materi- 

 als ; or carry out the liquid matter in casks, or 

 hogsheads, soon after it is collected ; and scatter 

 it on grass land as a top dressing, or on fields be- 

 fore sowing. No manure exceeds this in rich- 

 ness, consisting of urine and the soluble parts of 

 vegetables, more or less diluted ; wliich from their 

 saline impregnation, greatly promote the absorp 

 tion of moisture in the soil. 



In the winter, straw, huts of corn, litter, &c. will 

 collect in the yard, somewhat in proportion as tlie 

 farmer has been diligent in making manure for 

 preceding crops of grain and hay. No industrious 

 farmer will neglect to cart into his yard, in the 

 fall and spring, mould, mud, sods, &c. taken from 

 the sides of the road, cavities and low grounds, on 

 his farm. A quantity of these will be required 

 .ifter the yard is cleared in the fall, as a sort of 

 ground work of accumulating m^tterials ; and, in 

 the spring, a similar quantity will be wanted for 

 the same purpose, if it be thought expedient to 



* We have not seen those directions. We do 

 not doubt, however, of their utility. The direc- 

 tions given by J. Buel, Esq. of Albany, published 

 in the New England Farmer, vol. iv. page 409 ap- 

 pear to us to be the best for American farmers, 

 which we have seen. — Editor. 



use tlic manure collocteil in the prcccuing fall and 

 winter; ot,her«i,e for a covering to defend the 

 manure from evaporation, and the scorching of the 

 sun. Late in the summer these materials should 

 bo well mixed by the plough, which would oqual- 

 i;'.e the fermentation, and much improve the whole. 

 But this should not be done unless another cover- 

 ing can soon be afforded, as the loss from the es- 

 cape of elastic fliiiHs, would be greater than the 

 benefits residting 'Vom the operation. When the 

 mmure is thinly spread at the outer edges of the 

 yard, it may be well, during summer months, to 

 S(;rape it towards the centre or thicker parts. 



As the quantity and richness of the manure, de- 

 pend much on its mixture with the excrements of 

 the cattle ; no farme:, attentive to his interest will 

 suffer them while fed from tliC barn to go at large, 

 or out of the yard for water. By confining the 

 cattle to the yard at .such seasons, he would save 

 enough in two years, in ordinary circumstances, 

 to procure water for them by aqueducts, or well 

 and pump. 



Pew fanners correctly e.stimate the value of 

 irine as a manure. To ptrservc the cattle -'ry, 

 they make jjoles through the :ioor of the is, ■:■.;, 

 to drain off tlie liquid excreMieuts, N>i o ■ ' 

 question the importince of keeping cr.tile ..r - - 

 but this may be effected w ithout so great a sacri- 

 fice. Perhaps the best constructed leantos are 

 those whicli have cellars under them,.i;'to which 

 are thrown dung, litier, &.c. Here notiiing is lost, 

 but with a niO('erate degree of heat, undue fer- 

 mont.-ition is picvented; and the manure is not 

 bleached by rai.is nor carried away by evapora- 

 tion. Where the situation will not admit of this 

 plan, some provii'ent farmers raise the fl..ors, and 

 throw beneath them loam or some absorbent ma- 

 terials, h hich will receive and retain the liquid 

 matter, that may escape tlirou«h the cracks and 

 fissures. Gut, as the situation in one case and 

 negligence or want of time in the other, may pre- 

 vent either from being adopted, it would be a good 

 improvement to construct the floors impervious to 

 the urine, and sufficienlly descending to carry it 

 from the cattle. By these means they would be 

 kept dry and warm, and the dung thrown from the 

 leantos would be of a superior quality. But such 

 manure contains so much soluble matter that it is 

 peculiarly exposed to loss, if suflTered to remain 

 long uncovered at the barn windows. This might 

 be prevented by building cheap sheds over the 

 heaps. Oiving to the greater care, that horses be 

 kept clean and warm, less error prevails in con- 

 structing their stables. More litter is incorporat- 

 ed with their dung, which gives to it an addition- 

 al absorbing quality. But a great error prevails 

 in the management of this dung, in permitting it 

 to remain too long in heaps beside the stalls. In 

 this situation, excessive fermentation takes place 

 and it becomes scorched, or what is called in the 

 Edinburgh Encyclopedia. /ce/nnge*/. the ffreatest 

 obstacle to the rotting of dung, that can be expe- 

 rienced. But the greatest loss is not from 'his 

 charred state, but from the gaseous escape of the 

 fertili.ing particles. 



It thus loses perhaps one half its value. The 

 farmer has it in his power, to prevent this lo.=!8, 

 with but little trouble ; by spreading it on the yard 



