APPENDIX. 



LETTER FROM EDWARD JESSOP, TOKK, PA. 



York, Pa., March 16, 1876. 

 Joseph Harris, £k'j., Morcton farm, KiMhcster, N. Y. : 



Dear Sir — Your favor of the 'J!d of last month came safely to band, 

 and I am truly obliged to you for the reply to my question. — You ask, 

 can I help you with fact.'! or suggestions, on the subject of manure » 1 

 fear not much ; but it may be useful to you to know what others need 

 to know. I will look forward to the advent of "Talks on Manures" 

 with much interest, hoping to get new light on a subject second to none 

 in im{)ortance to the farmer. 



I have done a little at composting for some years, and am now having 

 a jiile of about forty cords, made up of stable-manure and earth taken 

 from the wash of higher lands, turned and fined. The labor of digging 

 and hauling the earth, composting in thin layers with manure, turning, 

 and (ining, is so great, I doubt whether it pays for most farm crops — 

 this to be used for mangel-wurzel and market-carden. 



The usual {)lan in this county is to k<cp the stable-manure made dur- 

 ing winter, and the accumulation of the summer in the barn-yard, where 

 it is soaked by rain, and trampled fine by cattle, and in August and Sep- 

 tember is hauled upon ground to be seeded with wheat and grass-seeds. 

 I do not think there is much piling and turning done. 



My own conclusions, not based on accurate experiments, however, 

 arc, that the best manure I have ever applied was pre[)ared in a covered 

 pit on which cattle were allowed to run, and so kept well tramped — 

 some drainage into a well, secured by jiouring water upon it, when 

 necessary, and the drainajre pumped and distrihutcd over the surface, at 

 short intervals, i^articularly the parts not well tramped, and allowed to 

 remain until it became a homogeneous mass, which it will do without 

 having undergone so active a fermentation as to have thrown off a con- 

 siderable amount of gas. 



The next best, composting it with earth, as above described, piled 

 about five or six feet liich, turned as often as convenient, and kept moist 

 enough to secure fermentation. 



Or, to throw all the manure as made into a covered i>it, until it is 

 thoroughly mixed and made fine, by allowing hogs to run upon it and 

 root at will ; and when prepared for even spreading, apiily it as a top- 

 dressing on grnss-land — at any convenient time. 



As to how many loads of fresh manure it takes to make one of well- 

 rotted manure, it may be answered approximately, three to one, but that 

 would depend a good deal on the manner of doing it, and the amount 

 of rough material in it. If well trodden by cattle under cover, and suf- 

 ficient drainage poured over it, to prevent anv violent fermentation, the 



