31Y UW.N I'l^N <JK MANA«JIN«; MANUKK. 83 



C ][ A r T K K X X. 

 MY OWX PLAN OF MANAGING MANURE. 



One of llic charms and the advanlages of agriculture is that a 

 farmer must ibiiik fur himself. He should studj princij)Ies, and 

 apply them in i>r.icliee, as best suits his circumstances. 



.My own metliolof uianai.'ing nianun- jiives nie many of tlie 

 advantages claimed for tlie Deacon's method, and Jolin Johnston's, 

 also. 



" I do nut understand wliat you mean," said the Deacon; "my 

 metliod differs essentially from that of John Johnston." 



" True," I replied, " you use your winter-made manure in the 

 spring; while Mr. Johnston piles his, and gets it thon)Ughly fer- 

 mented ; hut to do this, he has to keep it until the autunm, and it 

 does not benefit his corn-crop before the ne.\t summer, lie loses 

 the u.se of his manure for a year." 



I think my nutliod secures both these advantages. I get my 

 winter-made manure fermented ami in goiul condition, and yet 

 have it ready for spring crops. 



In tlie first place, I should remark tliat my usual plan is to cut 

 up all the fodder for horses, cows, and sheep. F<jr horses, I some- 

 times use long straw for bedding, but, as a nde, I prefer to run 

 everything through a feed-cutter. "We do not steam the food, and 

 ■we let the cows and sheep have a liberal supply of cut corn-stalks 

 and straw, and what they do not eat is thrown out of the mangers 

 and racks, and u.sed for bedding. 



I shonld state, too, tliat I keep a good many pigs, seldom having 

 less than 50 breeding sow.s. My pigs are mo.stly sold at from two 

 to four months old, but we probably average 150 head the j'car 

 round. A good deal of my manure, therefore, comes from the 

 pig-pens, and from two basement cellars, where my store hogs 

 Bleep in winter. 



In addition to the pigs, we have on the farm from 150 to 200 

 Cotswold and grade sheep ; 10 cows, and 8 horses. These are our 

 manure makers. 



The raw material from which the manure is manufactured con- 

 sists of wheat, barley, rye, and oat-straw, corn-stalks, corn-fodder, 

 clover and timotliy-liay, clover seed-hay, bean-straw, pea-straw, 

 potato-tojis, mauLTel-wurzel, turnips, rape, and mu.stard. These 

 are all raised on the farm ; and, in addition to the home-grown 

 oats, peas, and corn, we buy and feed out considerable quantities 



