146 ON FARM-YARD MANAGEMENT. 



from the weather. If this cannot be done under cover, 

 it is advisable to stack it, so that it will shed rain, and 

 escape the dissipating effects of the sun and the wind. 

 During frosty weather it will lose none of its virtue ; 

 but; in the spring, the stacks mast be attended to ; and, 

 as the bed of the farm-yard feels the influence of the 

 sun and begins to thaw, the manure should be scraped, 

 up and added to the stacks : this should never be 

 omitted ; otherwise the strength of it runs off or is dis- 

 sipated, leaving nothing but the nnfermented straw 

 behind. Any means that will save it from being 

 leached by rain should be adopted, and, in addition, and 

 to prevent the yards being flooded by heavy rains, the 

 buildings adjacent to it should be furnished with gut- 

 ters and drains to lead off the water: without these 

 precautions a great share of the manure in every barn- 

 yard will be exhausted of its best properties before it is 

 applied to the land. It is not uncommon to hear 

 farmers complain that manure has little or no efteet on 

 their land. And such manure as some of them make, 

 which has lain for months exposed to all the vicissi- 

 tudes of the weather, can have no effect. Perhaps it is 

 drawn out in the winter, spread abroad in small heaps, 

 and not turned under till nearly all its useful proper- 

 ties are extracted by frequent washings. Now notwith- 

 standing the great value of manures to the farmer, the 

 increasing, preserving, and judicious employment of 

 them seems to be a secondary object : considerable 

 quantities are daily lost about every farm, and what is 

 collected is of little value, owing to the manner in 

 which it is treated. No farmer can expect to succeed 

 in his agricultural operations without the aid of good 

 manure and plenty of it ; still its augmentation and 

 preservation seems to be little cared for : provided his 

 barn-yard is cleaned, out once a year, he thinks he has 

 done enough. 



It is feared that advances in this branch of farming, 

 in common with others, will not be very rapid until 



