86 THE 



tion at all times, as in a dairy kept for full profit, and 

 especially for fine butter, the winter should be the most 

 productiv^e season. The slack time in the author's dairy — 

 kept for the supply of fine butter for sale to private fam- 

 ilies in New York City — has always been in mid-summer, 

 wiien customers are usually in the country, and away 

 from home. This gives favorable opportunity for attend- 

 ing to the crops, and gives a rest from butter-making at 

 the most troublesome season of the year. 



The disposal of the manure is a matter of importance 

 in this system of dairying. A large quantity of manure 

 is made, as the cow^s are fed in the stable for most of the 

 time, and the most perfect cleanliness is to be observed in 

 all ways. The floor of the stable is air tight, as will be 

 described hereafter. The gutter is kept constantly sup- 

 plied with absorbents ; dry swamp muck dug in winter 

 from the swamp meadow is freely used ; and plaster — 

 a barrel is kept in the stable for the purpose — is liberally 

 scattered in the gutter and on the floor to absorb the 

 ammoniacal odor which would otherwise prevail. Twice 

 a day the gutter is emptied into the manure cellar under 

 the stable, where it is completely covered, at short in- 

 tervals, with swamp muck, already stored in the cellar 

 for the purpose. When the manure is wanted for the 

 land, which is quite often, it is remoyed from the cellar, 

 or when not wanted it is taken to the fields, and is piled 

 w^ith swamp muck and a liberal sprinkling of lime to 

 make compost. 



In this way the manure is never offensive, the abun- 

 dant use of plaster keeping the cellar and stables free 

 from odor, and the cellar floor is well covered every time 

 it is cleared. As the growth of large crops requires 

 abundance of manure, there is rarely ever more than a 

 load or two m the cellar, except in the winter; and the 

 supply IS scarcely ever sufficient, but needs to be aug- 

 mented by a good deal of artificial fertilizer. 



