MAY. 325 



observations, trmt a farmer should make as large a 

 reserve of straw- stubble, &c. for littering in sum- 

 mer, as possible. 



Cattle, when soiled upon any kind of good food, 

 as tares, clover, chicory, lucern, or grass, make 

 so large a quantity of urine as to demand the 

 greatest quantity of litter : the degree of this mois- 

 ture in which their litter is kept, while the weather 

 is hot, much assists a rapid fermentation, and 

 great quantities of carbonic acid and hydrogen 

 are generated. The winter's cold, with superfluous 

 water, by rain or snow, has a contrary tendency; 

 the manure is, comparatively speaking, weak and 

 poor. 



When I view the common spectacle of a large 

 yard spread with a thin stratum of straw or stubble, 

 iiiul a parcel of lean straw-fed cows wandering about 

 it, T think I see the most ingenious way of annihi- 

 lating litter, without making dung, that the wit of 

 man could have invented. Burning such straw upon 

 the land before sowing turnips, would be an appli- 

 cation far superior. 



Cows thus managed, are amongst the most 

 unprofitable stock that can be kept on a farm. 

 With the best food and management, their dung is 

 inferior ; but thus kept on a wide expanse of thin 

 Jitter, well drenched in rain and snow, running to 

 ponds and ditches, they destroy much, but give 

 little. 



When a farm is rich enough to summer-graxe 

 oxen, large or small, oil-cake feeding to finish, or 



Y 3 wait 



