22 A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



the cattle ; while some recommend ' that it should be cleaned 

 out once a month at least, not only to sweeten the yard, and 

 thereby to increase the health and vigor of the animals, but in 

 order that its contents may be properly mixed in some other 

 place, to induce and bring on a regular fermentation.' Now, 

 on this it may be observed, that the fears which are enter- 

 tained by some persons of the vapour arising from dung which 

 is contained in the open air of the yards becoming prejudicial 

 to the health of the cattle, are proved by experience to be com- 

 pletely visionary. No really bad odour prevails there ; for, 

 although it may be offensive to delicate nostrils, the air is 

 always respirable, and when not confined in close stalls, by 

 which the circulation is prevented, no ill effects are ever 

 known to arise from it. But when the cattle are either fed 

 upon turnips or other green food, the quantity of urine which 

 they discharge drenches such a quantity of straw, that the 

 beasts "cannot be easily kept dry ; or if they be crowded in 

 badly arranged yards, and immersed in the filth proceeding 

 from a scanty covering of straw, and the want of proper drains 

 to carry ofl^ the superfluous moisture, they may then indeed be 

 exposed to injury from the wet, and the dung should be 

 removed, though in almost any case ' once a month' w^ould be 

 found too often. In many instances the yards are never 

 cleared until the cattle are turned out after the close of the 

 winter ; and, unless in a very plentiful season for straw, it is 

 seldom done more frequently, atler they are shut up, than per- 

 haps once more in the early part of the spring : except they 

 be soiled during the summer, in which case it becomes fre- 

 quently necessary. When proper care has been used to pre- 

 vent an excess of rain-water, the manure thus obtained from 

 the bottom layer will doubtless be found of superior quality ; 

 but the w'hole heap ought to be w^ell mixed, in order to render 

 it of equal value. 



An eminent agricultural author, whom we have already 

 quoted, complains that he has not, in any one instance, been able 

 to find any thing like system in the mechanical arrangement 

 of the component parts of farm-yard mixens, wliich he gene- 

 rally found put together as they arise, according to circum- 

 stances, and without any regard to rule. Hence it follows 

 that their real value as manure can never be distinctly known 

 to the farmer, nor can he apply that proportion which a more 

 accurate knowledge of the contents would enable him lo 

 apportion to different kinds of grain, or to the particular soils 



