CATTLE AND FODDER. 1 89 



much, not perhaps by any diminution in its fertilizing 

 ingredients but in its physical properties, for it must be 

 remembered that the beneficial results attending the use 

 of farmyard manure are due to no inconsiderable extent 

 to its physical action on the soil, as well as to its power 

 of yielding to the soil the exact chemical food needed for 

 the production of crops." 



A plan very popular in Ceylon, where the art of 

 keeping and utilizing is better understood than else- 

 where, is as follows : The byres much the same 

 as the cattle sheds of an ordinary English home- 

 stead, but constructed of wattle and daub, or better 

 still, all chunum faced stone, placed on somewhat 

 elevated ground, away from dwelling places of 

 natives and Englishmen, but centrally situated in 

 order to facilitate the distribution of manure, are 

 built in parallelograms, each shed being sufficiently 

 broad to contain a double row of animals against 

 the walls, the floors being slightly sloped towards 

 the centre of the building, where a channel of 

 tiles or iron spouting runs its whole length. At 

 the far end is the muck yard, into which the waste 

 material is raked through folding doors every 

 day, the moisture from the sheds coming to the 

 same place, and pigs being kept within the en- 

 closure, whose sharp feet assist the process of 

 decomposition, and reduce the mass to a close, 

 dark-coloured and friable condition. Occasionally 

 this cattle-shed manure, second to none in value 

 and usefulness, is stored in pits filled in succes- 

 sion, those that have stood longest being the first 



