258 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



adding something to the great mass of consentane- 

 ous facts. When my attention was first turned to 

 this subject (some thirty-five or forty years ago), I 

 had adopted, but without examination, the notion at 

 that time most common among us, that it was best 

 to let all putrescent manures be well rotted first, 

 and then bury them deep, either by the plough, 

 spade, or hoe. This notion, like the common law, 

 was so old, that " the memory of man extended not 

 to the contrary ;" but, happily for us all, the revolu- 

 tion had broken the entail of opinions as well as of 

 landed estates, and left us at liberty to think and act 

 for ourselves. The natural consequence of this in- 

 creased freedom was the introduction of many new 

 practices in the arts as well as in government ; and 

 agriculture came in for some small share of these 

 benefits. Among them was the application of pu- 

 trescent manures to the surface, and in a much less 

 fermented state than had ever been -tried before. 

 But so dreadfully afraid were the first experimenters 

 of the formidable laugh of that once numerous fam- 

 ily, " The Goodenoughs," that they made their trials, 

 as it were, by stealth ; and, consequently, the results 

 remained for a long time .unknown, except to a few. 

 I happened to be among this small number, and 

 could not long resist the evidence of my senses, al- 

 though I must confess that at first it seemed to me 

 a sort of sacrilege even to doubt, and still more to 

 act, in direct opposition to an opinion which, for 

 aught I know, had descended from Triptolemus him- 

 self. By degrees, however, my courage waxed 

 stronger and stronger every year, until I felt myself 

 brave enough to commence the following experi- 

 ment, which several old farmers, in whose veracity 

 I perfectly confided, had assured me they had often 

 tried, and always with the result which I am about 

 to report in my own case. 



I began penning my cattle late in the spring, and 

 continued it until frost in pens of the same size. 



