AX ENGLISH PLAX OF KEEPING MAXUPwE. G9 



fermented under cover, except water or liquid manure is pumped 

 over the heap from time to time. 



" Where much straw is used in the manufacture of dung, and 

 no provision is made to supply the manure in the pit at any time 

 with the requisite amount of moisture, it may not be advisable to 

 put up a roof over the dung-pit. On the other hand, on farms 

 where there is a deGciency of straw, so that the moisture of the 

 excrements of our domestic animals is barely absorbed by the lit- 

 ter, the advantage of erecting a roof over the dung-pit will be 

 found very great. 



" 24. The worst method of making manure is to produce it by 

 animals kept in open yards, since a large proportion of valuable 

 fertilizing matters is wasted in a short time ; and after a lapse of 

 twelve months, at least two-thirds of the substance of the manure 

 is wasted, and only one-third, inferior in quality to an equal 

 weight of fresh dung, is left behind. 



" 25. The most rational plan of keeping manure in heaps ap- 

 pears to me that adopted by Mr. Lawrence, of Cirencester, and 

 described by him at length in Morton's ' Cyclopaedia of Agricul- 

 ture,' under the head of ' Manure.' " 



CHAPTER XVI. 



AN ENGLISH PLAN OF KEEPING MANURE. 



" I would like to know," said the Deacon, " how Mr. Lawrence 

 manages his manure, especially as his method has received such 

 high commendation." 



Charley got the second volume of "Morton's Cyclopsedia of Agri- 

 culture," from the book shelves, and turned to the article on 

 "Manure." He found that Mr. Lawrence adopted the "Box 

 System" of feeding cattle, and used cut or chaffed straw for bedding. 

 And Mr. Lawrence claims that by this plan " manure will have 

 been made under the most perfect conditions." And "when the 

 boxes are full at those periods of the year at which manure is re- 

 quired for the succeeding crops, it will be most advantageously dis- 

 posed of by being transferred at once to the land, and covered in." 



" Good, said the Deacon, " I think he is right there." Charley 

 continued, and read as follows : 



" But there will be accumulations of manure requiring removal 



