AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



^ 



PUBLISHED BV JOSElil HilECK &; CO., NO 52 NOilTH MARKET STllEKT, (AcnicuLTmiAt. Wabehouse.) 



vol.. Xv^ll.] 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 95, 1838. 



[NO. 3. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER AND GARDENER'S JOUR.^ML. 



MATERIALS FOR MANURE. 



We have spoken of various sources and niMiis 

 of accumulation and manufacture in regard to iua- 

 nures ; the barn cellar, the hoij-stye, tJie privy, t!.o 

 compost heap, the wash tub.s, Uie sink; in respect 

 to all these matters we have made suggestion--, 

 which we hope will be taken in good part by tin" 

 fanners ; and which we are persuaded, if jjroperiy 

 attended to, will result in accumulations of valuable 

 manure little dreamt of, when tlie foundation of tlio 

 heap was laid, and the first contributions brought 

 to it. The sailors tell us of extensive islando, 

 holding a large population and feasting tliein in • 

 plenty, and reefs stretching themselves for miles in 

 the ocean, and columns of coral rising from the very 

 deptiis of the sea to its surface, and if the sea could 

 be for a time withdrawn, and their vast height and 

 proportions disclosed to the eye they would be seen 

 casting into the shade even the mighty pyramids 

 of Egypt and the proudest trophies of liuman art I 

 and labor ; and all tlicse were the result of the 

 combined and unintcrmitted toil of v.ery small in- 

 sects, laboring constantly at these erections by the 

 gradual deposits of minute atoms. These mighty | 

 maoses show what can be effected by persevering j 

 labor even with tlic ma«t luuublc 'nstrumcnlr- i...u 

 means. The termites or ants of Africa erect large 

 cabins, which, spread out upon e.xtensive plains, 

 look like a vast military encampment. We see 

 constmtly upon our own pitch-pine plains, the heaps 

 whicii the common pismires accumulate ; and ob- 

 serve that all tliis is the product of single atoms 

 brought by single individuals of these minute ani- 

 mals, thousands of whom we destroy at" a single, 

 footslep. Every part of creation illustrates the ex- 

 ti'aordinary, immense, and triumphant results of 

 persevering labor. Many of tlie largest fortunes 

 ► IJiat hive ever been accunmlated have arisen from 

 minute savings and deposits. 



We hope our illustrations of this homely subject 

 will not be deemed too^ ambitious. We should be 

 glad to make them as striking and memorable as 

 possible ; and we care little for the source whence 

 they are drawn, provided only we can induce the 

 farmers to gather every thing, and to save every 

 tiling, which comes in tlieir way, by which tlie 

 means of enriching their farms may be created or 

 extended. We reiterate the great position that al- 

 most every farm, certainly where its products are 

 consumed on tlie place, contains the means of inaiii- 

 taimng and extending its fertility. Every traveller 

 who visits China, reports tlie extraordinary condi- 

 tion of the Chinese cultivati,on ; and concludes by 

 stating that the most remarkable and particular at- 

 tention is paid to the saving of manure. If gold 

 dust, if coin itself were sprinkled in tlieir streets, 

 they could not be more careful in picking it up, 

 and collecting it together, than they are in picking 

 up and collecting whatever maj' go to tlie increase ] 

 of their manure heap. ! 



It is in this matter our farmers fail, perhaps more 



th;in in any thing else connected with our agricul- 

 ture ; and this is a failure most essentially atrecting 

 their interests. If we would'evcrliavo an improved 

 agriculture, a revolution in our habits must take 

 place here ; and when this is effected, and all tlie 

 manure is provided and prepared, whicli we can 

 provide and prepare, we have accomplished com- 

 paratively iialf the work. The getting of manure 

 on a farm must be as much matter of study, care, 

 and labor as the getting of crops from that farm. 



We are of opinion that on every considerable 

 farm tliere should be a man employed witli a cart 

 and horse or yoke of oxen, whose solo and exclu- 

 sive business it should be, excepting in some ex- 

 liHiordinary emergency, to collect the materials for 

 manure ; and to put them in tlie way of being man- 

 ufactured. It is not enough for the farmer to say 

 he will do this at his leisure ; this shall be the bu- 

 siness of odd times ; he will attend to this when 

 nothing else presses upon him. It must be a spe- 

 cific, constant, principal object of study and labor. 

 Rernember again that every vegetable substance, 

 and every animal substance is capable of being 

 converted into a manure. 



Now we will look out of the window where we 

 are sitting and see what in a hasty glance comes 

 within our sight, which ought to be saved. There 

 :< the garden, with an abundance of weeds and de- 

 cayed vegetables ; vjollect all cheiii and lot Liieiii go 

 into the hogs' pen or the barn cellar. There is the 

 pasture, where bramble bushes, sweet fern, Canada 

 thistles, alder bushes, brakes, &c. abound. Gather 

 tliem, and you will at the same time clean your 

 pastures. There is the road lined for miles with 

 all sorts of weeds and coarse grasses ; get them. 

 There is many a mud hole, which receives tlie 

 washings of the streets, and ■Hhere a great deal of 

 valuable and rich manure has been collected ; empty 

 that. There is a large shade tree, where the cattle 

 daily collect; and where their droppings are accu- 

 mulated ; collect these and put them into the com- 

 mon heap. There is many a rich spot by the side 

 of the roads, which without any prejudice to your 

 neighbor or the public you can plough up ; take off 

 the mould, and carry that likewise into your manure 

 yard. There is the refuse of the shoe shop, scraps 

 of leather, &c. collect them and lay them on your 

 land to be ploughed in. There is a clay pit ; oc- 

 casionally get a load or two of that and tJirow into 

 your barn yard. It will greatly improve the com- 

 position. Then you have a wood or grove at hand ; 

 collect the leaves from that and lay them in store 

 for littering your cattle-stalls and your styes. But 

 you have a bog meadow ; here then is an abundant 

 supply of the materials for enriching your fields. 

 Collect this mud ; it is full of tlie most enriching 

 substances. They may be spread with great ad- 

 vantage upon your grass lands ; but they are still 

 better placed upon your compost heap. 



We have seen an excellent arrangement on the 

 part of two or three farmers for saving manure, and 

 especially the liquid portions They daily spread 

 the back part of their cow stables witli mould or 

 sand, of which both in winter and summer they 



keep a suilic ■••ut supply at hand under cover ; and 

 using this ivilhout covering, or covering^ it with 

 litter, a greit, amount of the most valuable manure 

 is saved. 



We havi ihro«'n out these hints, not thinking to 

 treat the sv. .jCct fully, or philosophically ; but rath- 

 er with a v'^>v to put otlu;r minds to considering 

 what can a nl ought to bt^uic. In new. countries, 

 where the aci umulatioiis oT vegetable matter have 

 been gatlie; .ig for centuries, and have remained cm 

 the surface untouched, tlierc is no occasion at pres- 

 ent for th': use of any manures. The soil is al- 

 ready full and needs rather to be exhausted than 

 replenishei. But it is not so with our old soils. 

 V/e cannot get along without manure. The geine, 

 the vegetable pabulum, must be supplied. We have, 

 as Dr Dan:i says, the plates, but tliey require to be 

 filled. Wl .night sit down to a table covered witli 

 the richest porcelain ov burnished and embossed 

 gold ; but if the dishes are empty, we should starve 

 as certainly at such a table as at a naked board. 

 Dr Dima is likewise of aA opinion, in wliich Profes- 

 sor Hitchcock concurs that the earthy constituents 

 of the soil i'.rc matters of comparatively little mo- 

 ment, provi.lod always of course that they exist in 

 oommixtu;c and are sufficiently retentive of mois- 

 ttire. Tlvt i?, t) recur to the former illustration, 

 it is of '1. - 'u- !io comparative importance what the 

 ■ i i^j.: ••ir.. made of, or whether the table at v.hich 

 we sit down be plain d.^al, oaken, or uiahogony ; 

 the irjiiu point is the food, wliich is placed upon it. 

 This appears constantly. In our disdained and 

 hard soil crops are occasionally produced, which 

 vie with anytliing, whicVv even the fertile alluvions 

 of the West display. One hundred and- thirty 

 bushels of corn were raised upon an acre in - Ply- 

 mouth county. Forty bushels of rye, ninety-six 

 bushels of oats, fifty-five bushels of wheat, one 

 thousand bushels of carrots, more than nine hun- 

 dred bushels of ruta baga, seven hundred bushels 

 of potatoes, and more than four tons of hay have 

 been raised upon an acre even in our granite soil. 

 The incredulous may sneer at this ; that does not 

 at all effect the facts. It neither makes nor un- 

 makes nor alters tliem. They are established by 

 full and incontrovertible evidence. This however 

 has been done by liberal cultivation, liberal manur- 

 ing, applied with sound judgment ; at proper times 

 and in a proper form. 



The collection of this manure and its application 

 to the soil and crop is we admit laborious, and re- 

 quires incessant care and diligence. In this respect 

 the new countries have immense advantages over 

 us ; and when we compare our severe and expen- 

 sive cultivation with their little expense and abun- , 

 dant returns we are often half disposed to jjuU u[) 

 our boots and put on our hat and gloves. But then 

 we come back to the great and established ])osition, 

 that agriculture in almost any part of Neiv England 

 having ordinary advantages, where conducted with 

 skill, judgment, and frugality, affords an ample re- 

 muneration for all tlie toil and all the expense in- 

 curred ; and when we recollect the multiplied so- 

 cial advantages which our community presents over 



