STALL-MANURE AND STRAW. 135 



able to penetrate from without into the pit. In 

 the first case, the most valuable constituent of the 

 manure is directly lost ; in the second, an unprofit- 

 able weight of moisture is added, to augment the 

 cost of carting. The injury occasioned by a perme- 

 able, and more particularly by a light, porous soil, 

 may lead, during continuously wet weather, to a 

 complete washing out of the manure ; and what is 

 lost in this manner is generally of greater value than 

 what remains behind. The simplest means of se- 

 curing a water-tight bed is displayed to us by Nature 

 herself, in ponds, water-pits, and marshes. Pond- 

 mud, a substratum of clayey or loamy earth, restrains 

 the subsidence of water into the depth below ; hence 

 it is only necessary to cover the bed and sides of the 

 dung-heap with a stout layer, some foot in thickness, 

 of clay, loam, or stiff earth, and to stamp it down 

 as tightly as possible, in order to render it impervi- 

 ous to liquids. A paving over of this layer with 

 stones will of course subserve the end in view, and 

 also facilitate the carting of the muck. It scarcely 

 needs express remark, that rain-water descending 

 upon the other part of the yard, and that which 

 falls from the roofs of surrounding buildings, must 

 be fended off; and this is effected most simply by the 

 intervention of a paved gutter, some six to eight 

 inches in depth, around the heap. 



2d. A slight fall should he given to the bed of the 

 dung-pit^ and a draining s-tank of sufficient size con- 

 structed at its deepest part, in order to collect the fluid 



