NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY THOiMAS W. SHEPARl) KOCrEllS' BUILDINGS, CONGRESS STREET, (EOURTII DOOK IROM STAiE SIHEET.) 



Vol. I. 



BOSTON, SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 1823. 



No. 36. 



SAVING AND MAKING 

 MANURE. 



^V 



6A 



THE MOST OF ventetl. A proper quantit_y of fresh earth, mis- 

 led with or thrown over any putrescent, mould)', 

 BY THE EDITOR. Or fermenting substances, absorbs every thing- 



(Continued from p. 2150 I offensive or injurious, and changes the causes of 

 ' have already been somewhat copious in pestilence into the sources of fertility. Amonj? 

 b<<ervations relative to collecting and ap- other things, night soil or privy manure, should, 

 :; liquid manure* But this is a /ri«r/«i ^ at least in warm weather, two or three times a 

 ; and, as manure is the farmer's iiidispeu- week, (or better every day) be covered or in- 

 it is therefore an imporktnt topic. We corporated with several times its bulk of fresh 

 e aware that we can write nothing upon the i loam ; and if a little lime is iViised with the 

 bject which will prove quite so amusing to | other ingredients, the compound will retain no 

 hat is denominated the goiteeler part of our ; bad odour.* 



p\ilation as the '■ Pioneers," or '• Peveritl of i Some people will doubtless tell us that our 

 e Peak."' Still, we are inclined to think, with directions are well enougli in theory, and will 

 e leave of novel-readers, dandies, victims of i do for " Gentleman Farmers," but would cost too 

 nsibility, ladies' gentlemen, gentlemen's ladies, j inuch for common farmers to put in practice, 

 d the rest of "nature's porcelain," that our | Health, however, can hardly be purchased too 

 marks on Manure may prove quite as vsefid i dearly. " Skin for skin, yea, all that a man 

 a farmer and his family, as the most fascin-lhath will he give for his life :" and life with- 

 ing productions of the " Great Unknown," or out health is scarcely a blessing. Pure air is as 

 ose of his .American compeer. But, lest our 'necessary for health as pure water, or nhole- 

 linion, as respects the paramount claims of the some food. Besides, the expense of the neces- 



atter under consideration to our reader's res- 

 ctful attention, should be thought not exactly 

 thodos, we will condescend to fortify ourselves 



:^ary implements, pipes, reservoirs, &,c. in the 

 first instance, cannot be great, and after those 

 are made, a habit of cleanliness, and attention 



th a little " chopped logic," so called by mas-, (o what may be deemed small, but are really 

 rs of rhetoric. "All flesh is grass;" but grass juiportant matters is almost all that is required. 



ill not grow to advantage without manure- 

 erefore all Jlesh (including ladies and gentle- 

 en) has a direct interest in saving and making 

 e most of this last mentioned article. 

 The same or similar receptacles to those 

 jde use of for containing the stale of cattle. 

 e draining of dunghills, &c. may likewise servt 



repositories for soap suds, dish water, anu 

 ose more offensive substances, which will 

 netimes make their way into the best of i;\m- 

 es. it will not be very expensive, compared 

 th the importance of the object, to conduci 

 ery thing of this nature, by suitable pipes, or 

 vered drains, to a dung pit, or other proper 

 servoir, where they may be either incorpo- 

 ted with earth and form a valuable compost, 

 , perhaps, after being diluted with water, ap- 

 ied to plants in the garden, or to crops near 

 e homestead. No head of a family, who has 

 ly regard to health as well as cleanliness and 

 ;ononiy, wilt suffer any noxious or putrid sub- 

 inces to contaminate the air about his dwelling. 

 6 will reflect that such nuisances not only tres- 

 iss on the senses of sight and smell, but assail 

 e constitution ; and though they may not im- 

 ediately convert his house into a hospital, they 

 ad the air with the seeds of debility, and geu- 

 •ate slow, nervous and typhus fevers. Indeed 

 ey are hardly exceeded by morning drams in 

 lusing that languor which makes life a burthen, 



" A long disease which death alone can cure." 

 Yet the house-yards as well as the barn-yards 

 td other premises of some farmers may be 

 aelled at a very unreasonable distance. 1d- 

 ead of pure country air, they are surrounded 

 ith poisonous exhalations, and their habitations 

 re fit lor the residence of no animals but such 



«i Shakspeare mentions, which " live on the 

 jpors of a dunghill.'' This is the more wor- 

 ijr ol censure because it may be easily pre- 



There is nothing so expensive as negligence : 

 carelessness is very costly, and he who will not 

 or cannot afford the money or labor necessary 

 for the proper pursuit of his vocation, will find 

 |)arsimony to be the highway to poverty ; and 

 that " there is nothing like poverty for keeping 

 a man poor." 



With regard to the exact manner in which 

 the pipes and reservoirs of liquid manure 

 -hould be constructed we shall add but little to 

 what has been already observed, but leave the 

 reader, who may have a use for such conve- 

 ajencies to the exercise of his own ingenuity. 

 Those who have cellars under their barns, or 

 can conveniently form such cellars, will per- 

 haps do well to make them the receptacles of 

 all the liquid as well as solid matter, which is 

 valuable fcr manure. Those who have not, or 

 cannot afford, or do not wish for such cellars, 

 may, perhaps, derive useful hints from the fol- 

 lowing passages, extracted from the writings ol 

 an able author, whom we have frequently had 

 occasion to quote. 



" It would be injudicious to recommend here 



►See pages 190, 191,214, 



* " JV(g/i; soil, it 13 well known, is a very powerful 

 manure, aid very liable to decomposition. From thi 

 analysis of Bcrzelius, it appears that a part of it is al- 

 ways solulle iu water ; and in whatever state it is used, 

 whether recent or fermented, it supplies abundance of 

 i'ood to plants. The disagreeable smell of night soil 

 may be destroyed by mixing it with quick lime ; and 

 if exposec to the atmosphere in thin layers strewed 

 over with quick lime, iu fine iveather it speedily dries, 

 is easily pulverized, and iu this state may be used in 

 the same manner as rape cake, and delivered into the 

 furrow i^ith the seed. 



" The Chinese, who have more practical knowledge 

 of the U!e and application of manures than any other 

 people existing, mis their night soil with one third ol 

 its wei'ht of a fat marie, make it into cakes, and dry 



[in Nova Scotia] the identical plan of construc- 

 tion for a dunghill, which is prevalent in Eng- 

 land ; yet at the same time, a brief description 

 of this necessary part jf farm-building as con- 

 ducted at home, would not be altogelher use- 

 les^s. The general principles are the same in 

 all places, and in all countries ; although the 

 manner of applying them may be different and 

 accommodated to circumstances. The out- 

 houses or oflices, attached to every farm of any 

 extent, are generally arranged in a square form, 

 leaving an area in the centre, which is sur- 

 rounded on all sides by a foot pavement. Here 

 a pit is opened, varying I'roni two to three feet 

 in depth, and proportioned to the size of the 

 area; paved either at bottom with (lag stones, 

 or coated with cliy — the cow house, the pig- 

 stye, the feeding stall, the stable are all so con- 

 trived, 'that the urine and vegetable juices, in 

 the separate subdivisions flow inward, and emp- 

 ty themselves into this excavation. It is the 

 common receptacle of all the dung made by the 

 cattle, of the refuse of the kitchen, of the 

 sweepings of the barn-floor, and in short, of all 

 the waste of the farm. 



" First of all, a coating of common mould, by 

 most of the enlightened and scientific agricultu- 

 rists, is spread all along the pavement of this 

 pit, from 9 to 15 inches deep, according to the 

 convenience or fancy of the operator. On this 

 the manure is laid, as it is brought by a wheel- 

 barrow out of the different offices and stalls. 

 When fermentation becomes violent, and this is 

 indicated by the heat and strength of the vapor, 

 the cleanii;-- of ditches and roads, or, in want 

 of these, common earth are carted, ol'ten from 

 a considerable distance, and regularly spread 

 over the dunghill. The gases are thus absorb- 

 ed and prevented from escaping; and recourse 

 is had to this remedy, whenever the rapidity of 

 the putrefactive process points out its necessi- 

 ty. According to this plan, there is no waste 

 nor carelessness in the management of the ma- 

 nure. The mould at bottom imbibes greedily 

 the saturated liquor which sinks downward ; 

 and that, which is intermingled with the whole 

 mass fixes and retains the gases — so often de- 

 scribed as the elementary principles of the de- 

 composing matter. From experience it is discov- 

 ered that the earthy materials which are thus 

 added to the animal and vegetable substances, 

 are impregnated with as nutritive virtues as the 

 dung itself; and that they increase the bulk and 

 value of the manure by their whole amount."* 



The same author also gives the following di- 

 rections for the same purpose, which, though 

 mostly coinciding with the foregoing, are, in 

 some particulars, more definite. 



" With respect to the formation of a dung 

 pit, I would recommend that a place be chosen 

 near the barn, which should be dug about three 

 feet deep, and of a size proportionate to the 

 'lock of cattle usually kept by the farmer. It 

 is not necessary that it should be built round 

 with a wall, or have a perpendicular descent, 

 us it may slope gently inwards, and deepen 



After It is thus 



itby eiposure to the sun. These cakes, we are m- 



formecbythe French missionaries, have no disagrcea- gradually towards the centre. 



ble snell, and form a common article of commerce ofl 



the eupire."— ^§;i"iCM/(Krai Chtmiitrt/. j * Letters of Agricola, p. 204, 205. 



I 



