386 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Jt'KE: 12, IS39. 



the evening the keeper lets in a proper quantity of 

 water to the gutter, and in the morning carefully 

 mixes with it the manure that had fallen from the 

 cattle, so as to form the wliole into an equal and 

 flowing liquid. During the day the boards are 

 frequently swept, and water let into t!ie gutter and 

 emptied when necessary. Mr Hague, the engin- 

 eer on the Morccanilie Bay embankment, related to 

 me some further particulars respecting the method 

 practised in Holland, lie informed me that when 

 the cows were turned out for an hour each day, 

 they were covered with a sheet or jacket. This is 

 necessary on account of the dense fogs that fre- 

 quently prevail in Holland, which would be detri- 

 mental to the cows, on being turned out, as they 

 are curried and brushed with so much care, that 

 they would be liable to take cold without such pre- 

 caution. The jacket is also used occasionally as 

 a protection from flies. Mr Hague observed that 

 the fogs were sometimes so dense that nothing 

 could be seen but their heads moving above it. — 

 Cleanliness is carried to such an extent that while 

 the cows are out, the boards they lie upon are 

 scoured, as Mr Hague expressed it, as clean as a 

 kitchen table. One plan which the trench behind 

 seems to render necessary, gives to the animals a 

 grotesque appearance ; all the cows' tails being 

 tied by ropes to weights round pullies fixed at the 

 top of the cow-liouse, in the same manner as it was 

 usual in the nicking of horses' tails. 



To elucidate this more fully, I present the meet- 

 ing with a sketch of the cow-house and the inmates, 

 with their tails in a proper position. 



I am aware that the British farmer would con- 

 sider all this as unnecessary labor, that would not 

 pay; the Dutch think differently. I am not called 

 upon to state an opinion how much of this care 

 and cleanliness is profitable ; before I i) so 1 should 

 like to test tlicir jiractice with my own observation 

 on the spot. It presents however, a striking con- 

 trast to our slovenly and shamefully dirty system of 

 accommodation for cattle, and well may the Dutch 

 butter be in estimation. 



The Dutch management of tho dairy is deserv- 

 ing of imitation, but to enter upon it would be trav- 

 elling out of the present question. I have stated 

 that the average number of cows kept on a mixed 

 farm was one for two or three acres, but it has been 

 sufliciently proved that an acre of ground devoted 

 to this purpose will supply food for three cows, 

 Cobbett asserts that an acre will supply four, 



bor in providing this expensive food would be sav-j quick succession of heavy rain at that season of tlie 

 cd, as vetches and irreen clover, turnips, &c. sup- year does not permit the retention of one-fifiidli 

 ply them early and late in the season, in place of I part of what ijie dung has been deprived of. But 

 hay, or other dry food; and every body knows the i the next deprivation of essential matter that that 

 expense of meadows. Fencing also, a very trouble- inanure generally undergoes is worse than this, 

 some operation, would be saved. The treading ofi which is by thro»ing it up into heaps to rot, but to 

 tlie land, and injury to young grasses, the loss from burn would be a more proper expression. Manure 

 trespass, illness from causes before mentioned, the getting both washed and burned, it is not surpris- 

 abor of taking the cows to and fro to milk — the ing that it is deprived of three-fifths of its original 



Trusting now that I have satisfactorily explain- 1 effluvia and juices. 



balance of the account altogether, tlerefore, would 

 be very much in favor of the plan proposed. 



It is m my opinion consistent with the soundest 

 principles of rural economy, and there is nothing 

 mysterious in it. It is sijnple and intelligible, no 

 nostrum belongs to it, no uncerUiinly ; it has 

 been tried and found to succeed. Its effects are 

 certain, therefore may be safely, and ought to be 

 earnestly recommended. The cattle by consuming 

 the produce tend in a great ratio to re-produce — 

 thus the more cattle the more corn. 



A fine field would open for this system and for 

 the exertions of the Lancaster Society, on the en- 

 closure of Morecambe Bay, the deposit in which 

 consists of the ingredients of a future most fertile 

 soil, having 90 per cent, of carbonate of lime in its 

 composition, with a large proportion of silex ; the 

 most profitable soils are composed principally of si- 

 lex, viz., as much as 80 or 90 per cent. Vegeta- 

 ble matter is alone wanting to make it .superior to 

 most soils in the kingdom ; this matter would be 

 produced in the nianner before stated. I have 

 seen tlie finest clover, tares, turnips, and cabbages 

 grow in comparatively barren sand. With the help 

 of vegetable matter, what a field would be opened 

 to the philanthropist, — 70 thousand acres of land 

 capable of the greatest fertility, cultivated at the 

 least possible expense, with the advantage of a 

 climate level with the sea; the benefits would be 

 boundless. It would be worse than madness, as 

 regards the public, it would be idiotcy, to neglect 

 the means which a kind providence has put within 

 our reach to extend the bounds of utility and ben- 

 efit to our fellow creatures. Another means of i.i- 

 creasing manure is by more attention to irrigation. 

 In many situations a stream might be brought 

 through a farm-yard and the manure conveyed in a 

 liquid state to the grass land with trifling labor. 



Manure may also be much augmented by an in- 

 creased care in collecting vegetable matters and 

 forming composts to deposit in the farm-yard, and 

 by covering the manure heaps so as to absorb the 



ed how manure may be profitably augmented, tha 

 a farmer would have no occasion to spend hismon- 

 ey in purchasing manure, becau.se he will have -a - 

 bundance at home, I will now proceed to consider 

 its preservation and application. Much, of course, 

 depends upon the soil and situatioji. In a liquid 

 state it is more immediately avail ible to-the use of 

 the plant, and a smaller quantity is more etficacious 

 Liquid manure is calculated to be most beneficial 

 upon light soils that require frequent applicati(ms 

 of several doses. This system of stall-feeding and 

 preparing the manure in England, where labor bears 

 a high price, may be objected fo on account of the 

 expense ; but the increased produce would far 

 more than repay the additional labor. It is success- 

 fully practised in countries where the price of labor 

 bears the sa:ue relative proporticii to tlio price ofpro- 

 duce as in Kngland. If the accouiitof labor will not 

 perfectly balance, sumctliing at all events may be 

 set down on the creditor side ; on this plan the 

 cattle will not require much hay, therefore the la- 



(To li( 



cd.) 



PRtyHER MANAGEMENT OF FARM-YARD 



MANURE 



By Mr John Pearson, Ganlcmr and Planter to W. 

 D. Chxlde, Esq., Kinlet, near BewdU;/, Worcester- 

 shire. 



As it is the fashion of the day to decry long es 

 liblished rules and customs before new systems 

 :.re perfectly modelled, I may safely declare that it 

 ;s almost impossible to conceive a more improper 

 receptacle for manure to retain its essentia' prop 

 ertics than the generality of farm-yards. Let any 



properties. I well recollect, when a lad, of being 

 €tnj)loyed to drag down one of those rotting heaps 

 at the risk ol burning my feet, as well as receiving 

 a lasting injury to my lumbar vertebra?. Several 

 years ago I was finding fault with an experienced 

 ieulturist for throwing his manure too thick to- 

 getlier, when his answer was, that he always gave 

 his men au extra jug of cider to throw it as high as 

 the barn if they could. I asl ed, don 't you find 

 the middle of the heap as white as your shirt? 

 Yes, said he, but I never could tell how it was ; 

 and added, that it was so dry sometimes that the 

 wind blew it out of the carts. I advised him to 

 save his extra jug of cider, and lay up the manure 

 only from two to three feet in thickness, and not 

 allow a foot to be set on it ; but I must not antici- 

 pate my remarks. I think I have made out a suf- 

 ficient case of condemnation against the present 

 system of managing farm-yard manure; and any 

 rmor that v.ill condescend to try the following 

 plan but once, will assuredly abandon his old prac- 

 The plan is simply this : let all superabun- 

 dant water be kept from the manure during the 

 time it lies in the fold-yard. This is easily ac- 

 complished by having the barns, shed.s, &c. provid- 

 ed with spouts to convey tiie water into drains or 

 into tanks for use. The fold-yards thus rendered 

 comparatively dry, tlie small quantity of manure 

 water that would drain from the dung would easily 

 be contained in poreless tanks, and ai)plied to the 

 meadow at a time when the grasses were growing, 

 and the ground dry, both of which would take up 

 the- manure before the rains came to wash it into 

 the brooks. When the manure is put into rotting 

 heaps, never allow them to be more than from two 

 to three feet in thickness, according to the good- 

 ness. What is a safe guide in this process is, to 

 have a few sticks stuck into the heaps, and as soon 

 as they feel warm to the hand, let the manure be 

 turned and laid a little thinner ; and should they 

 get hot a second time, turn the manure again. — 

 This, in most cases, will be found sufficient, pro- 

 vided the dung and straw have been well mixed 

 during the process of turning ; and, in the course 

 of a month or five weeks, the manure will be suf- 

 ficiently rotten for every agricultural purpose, and 

 retain nearly if not all its original properties ; and 

 what is also of consequence to the farmer, it does 

 not take quite so much labor as the old plan of 

 throwing it as high as the barn. — London Farmer's 

 Magazine. 



LIQUID MANURE. 

 This species of manure is so valuable and so uni- 

 versally neglected, that a few observations, inde- 

 pendent of what has been previously said, may tend 

 efiecting man Took into one of these fidding yard's I to call the attention of agriculturists to an article 

 during a^heavy rain in winter, and he will soon ob- 1 of immense importance, which at present seems 



serve the drip from all the roofs of the houses col- 

 lected in a deep pool among the manure. The 

 manure thus lies macerating for several months ; 

 but the farmers say that the manure water runs on 

 to the meadow ; yet I can assure them that grass 



either entirely to have escaped their observation, 

 or to have been deemed beneath their notice. 



It should be always kept in view, that beyond 

 the increase of size and weight which takes place 

 in a livinc animal, the quantity of food supplied 



roots take up liquid manure but slowly, and the I will pass from tlie animal in some form or other, 



