134 STALL-MANURE AND STRAW. 



acid or of green vitriol, mixed in a tub-full of water 

 and poured from a watering-pot over the manure, 

 will at once bind the ammonia and remove the 

 smell. In relation to this point, I have occasionally- 

 heard complaints that the milk of cows, in conse- 

 quence of the warm litter in summer time, very read- 

 ily curdles, and hence becomes unfitted for trans- 

 portation to a distance. 



3. If a dung-pit outside the stable is employed for 

 the preservation of manure until it is put upon the 

 land, a considerable part of its strength may be very 

 readily lost by defective attention and supervision. 

 Hence every farmer, whether he may possess much 

 or little ground, ought to regard the preparation of a 

 suitable dung-pit^ and the proper management of its 

 contents^ as one of his primary and most important 

 tasks, and the expense it may entail, as one of his first 

 and most necessary disbursements ; for by a trifling 

 expenditure of money and labor he can acquire a 

 capital which is otherwise wholly and unprofitably 

 lost. 



For the preparation of a dung-heap and the man- 

 agement of the manure, the following rules must be 

 observed : — 



1st. Care must be taken that the dung-pit be tight 

 below and at the sides, in order that neither the 

 urine contained in the manure, nor the fluid de- 

 rived from the access of rain or snow, may ooze 

 away ; and that the water dammed up, as well as 

 that furnished from springs or the soil, may not be 



