118 TALKS ON MANURES. 



" The grain-grower has straw in excess ; he tries hard to got it 

 into such form that he can draw it to his tielils, and get it at work, 

 at the least cost in labor. So he covers his hani-yards deep with 

 straw, after each snow-storm, and gets his cattle, sheep, and horses, 

 to trample it imder foot ; and he makes his pigs convert all he can 

 int<j such form that it will do to ajtply it to his pastures, etc., in 

 winter or early spring. 



" A load of such manure is large, perliaps, Itut of no very great 

 value, as compared witli well-rotted stahlc-manure from grain-fed 

 horses ; l)ut it is as good as much that I have seen ilrawn from 

 city stables, and carried far, to restore the worn out hay-fields on 

 the shores of the North River— in fact, (juite like it. 



"The dai'*ynian, generally, has but little straw, and his nuinurc 

 is mostly dung of cow.s, worth much more, per cord, than the 

 straw-litter of the gniin-growcrs. 



"Tiie grain-grower will want no shtds for keejjing olT the rain, 

 but, rather, he will desire more water than will fall on an open 

 yard. The milkman will wish to protect his cow-dimg from all 

 rains, or even snows; so he is a great advocate of manure-shed.s. 

 These two clas.ses of farmers will adopt tpiile unlike methods of 

 applying tbeir manure to ( rops. 



'"1 have cited these two da.sses of farmers, simjily to show the 

 difficulty of making any universal laws in regard to the treatment 

 and use of barn-yard manure. * * * 



" I think you and I are fully agreed in ngard to the farm being 

 the true source of the manure that is to make the land grow bet- 

 ter witli u.se, and still produce croiis — perhaps you will go with 

 me so far as to say, tlie greater the crojjs, the more manure they 

 will make — and the more manurr', the larger the crops. 



" Now, I object to any special farming, when applied to a whole 

 great division of country, such as merely raising grain, or devoted 

 entirely to dairyini:. 



"I saw at Rome, N. T., these two leading branches of New 

 York farming united on the ITunlington tract of 1,:500 acres. 

 Three or four farms (T forget which) had separate and distinct 

 management, conducted by different families, but each had a dairy 

 coml)ined with the raisins of large crops of gnin, such as wheat, 

 corn, oats, etc. These grain-crops, with suitable areas of meadow 

 and pasture, sustained the dairy, and the cows converted much of 

 the grain, and all of the forage, into maiuire. Thus was com- 

 bined, to mutual adv.intnge. these two important branches of New 

 York fanning. Wheat ami cheese to sell, and constant iniprovc- 

 rueiit in crops. 



