MANAGEMENT OP MANUIIES OS GRAIX-FAKMS. 125 



straw. This is, porhups, an extreme case, but there eaii be little 

 doubt, that a ton of straw, trampled down by cattle, and sheep, in 

 an open barn-yard, exposed to snow and rain, would weij^di four 

 tons when drawn out wet in the spring. 



Yes, it is quite an argument in favor of manure cellars. I have 

 always hail a prejudice against them — probably, because the lirst 

 one I saw was badly managed. There is, however, no necessity, 

 even in an ordinary open barn-yard, with more or less sheds and 

 stables, of having so much water in the manure when drawn out. 

 The real point of my remarks, which so surprised Mr. Geddes, 

 was this: We have to draw out so much water with our manure, 

 under any circumstances, that we should try to have it as rich as 

 possible. It is certainly true, that, // the manure from a ton of 

 straw is worth $:3, that from a ton of clover-hay, is worth $10. 

 And it costs no more to draw out and spread the one than the 

 other. I have never yet found a farmer who would believe that 

 a ton of clover-hay, rotted down in the barn-yard, would make 

 three or four tons of manure; but he would readily assent to the 

 proposition, that it took four or five tons of green clover to make a 

 ton of hay ; and that if these four or five tons of green-clover were 

 rotted in the yard, it would make three or four tons of manure. 

 And yet, the only dificrence between the green-clover and the hay, 

 is, that the latter has lost some 60 or 70 per cent of water in cur- 

 ing. Add that amount of water to the hay, and it will make as 

 much manure as the green-clover from which the hay was made. 



GYPSUM AND CLOVER AS MANURE. 



A good farmer came in while we were talking. " Nothing like 

 plaster and clover," he said, " for keeping up a wheat-farm." And 

 you will find this the general opinion of nearly all American 

 wheat-growers. It must be accepted as a fact. But the deduc- 

 tions drawn from the fact are as various as they are numerous. 



Let us look first at tlie fact. And, If you like, we will take my 

 own farm as an example. About 60 years ago, it was covered with 

 the primeval forest. The trees, on the higher and drier land, were 

 first cut down, and many of them burnt on the land. Wheat was 

 sown among the stumps. The crop varied in different years, from 

 10 to 30 bushels per acre. When 30 bushels were grown, the fact 

 was remembered. When 10 bushels only were grown, little was said 

 about it in after years, until now there is a general impression 

 that our wheat crop? were formerly much larger per acre than 

 now. I doubt it; but we will not discuss the point. One thing is 



