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the barnyard after every rain, straw, stalks, leaves of the forest, 

 drifts on the banks of streams, all contribute their share in the gen- 

 eral enrichment of the farm. And any one would be surprised at 

 the amount accumulated for the spring scattering, if systematically 

 carried on for one year. It requires but a little time, too, if a reg- 

 ular time be given to it. Regularity and system are the great 

 watchwords of improvement. 



Millions of dollars are annually wasted by burning straw and 

 stalks, which, if carried to the stables and barn yard, would act as 

 solvents, to catch this daily waste. If the ashes, resulting from 

 the burning straw, were as good manure as the straw itself, then 

 burning would not be wasteful. But a large amount of valuable 

 matter goes into the air as gases, besides much is blown away by 

 the winds. A Mr. Lawes, of England, determined this matter of 

 burning manure in -an experiment that was botk fair and positive. 

 He took 28 tons of yard manure, and divided it; fourteen tons were 

 reduced by fire, leaving 32 cwt. of ashes. He then scattered the 

 fourteen tons of manure left on one acre of land, and the 32 cwt. of 

 ashes on another acre of land, and left another acre without any 

 application. He cultivated them all well and alike. 



The manured acre made twenty-two bushels of wheat, the ashed 

 acre made sixteen bushels, and the unmanured acre made sixteen 

 bushels. This proves that the more nitrogen manure contains in 

 combination with the salts, the more value it has. 



Night soil, or the excrement of human beings, is, next to chicken 

 manure, the richest and most stimulating of all manures. Then 

 comes that of fattening hogs and sheep, horses and cows. But, as 

 before stated, the disposition to waste is so great, that the "cold" 

 manures, as that of cows, sheep and hogs, are more available to the 

 farmer than the more active ones of man and horse. 



Too much care cannot be exercised in preserving the eserements 

 of men and animals. Every pound of ammonia that is lost or evap- 

 orates represents the amount required for a bushel of corn ; and 

 every pound of the urine of a horse or man will furnish sufficient 

 ammonia for a pound of wheat ; and two and a half pounds of the 

 urine of man will furnish the phosphoric acid and more than half 

 of the potash required for a pound of wheat. 



It then remains for us to make the application of these remarks, 

 *nd every right-thinking man will see at once the importance of 



