.1880. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



371 



his operations on tlu hl.^li Liiids, and covering 

 them with the ncai-est muck, and so continued un- 

 til the whole was accomplish-d. These grounds 

 were then enriched with the compost of v,-hich 

 they had furnished the principal j^art, and two to 

 three tons per acre of excellent Timothj' and red- 

 top hay was their product for some ten to fifteen 

 years in succession. His operations in this mat- 

 ter were extensive, conducted in a systematic 

 manner, and the conclusions to which he arrived 

 in relation to them, have been abundantly sus- 

 tained by other manipulators, and by careful an- 

 alysis by scientific men. His experiments, descrip- 

 tions and statement, have conferred benefits up- 

 on the agricultural industry of the country, which 

 are already appreciated by thousands, and will 

 continue to be by thousands more, as they gradu- 

 ally apply the rich treasures of inexhaustible muck 

 beds to their lean and famished fields. 



As it is in this particular foi-m that the farmer 

 is to find his chief advantages in using this great 

 gift of nature, we will briefly present the practi- 

 ces and results of some of the systematic and 

 money-making cultivators, whose operations we 

 have long observed, and who stand as worthy ex- 

 amples for all. Next to the patient, long-contin- 

 ued and valuable efforts of Mr. PillxXEY, of Lex- 

 ington, no man has done more in this branch of 

 industry for the public welfare than the Hon. 

 Feederick Holbrook, of Brattleboro', Vt. The 

 Plow and the Muck-bed have been the themes of 

 his thoughts and conversation, until he has given 

 to one forms of beauty and utility that strike the 

 beholder with admiration, and has manifested to 

 thousands that in the other lie concealed the fu- 

 ture harvests that are to give our people a pros- 

 perity heretofore unexampled in the nations of the 

 earth. That out of these dark and neglected mass- 

 es shall spring, indirectly, plants and fruits here- 

 tofore unknown, cattle of symmetrical forms, and 

 horses competing with the wind ; that broad fields 

 shall be restored to more than their pristine vig- 

 or, and fair hamlets and villages shall cover the 

 land, and the homes of the farmer be made vocal 

 with thanksgiving and joy, through the blessings 

 of a material heretofore "trodden under foot, and 

 despised of men." His practice and his precepts 

 have gone hand in hand together, and their re- 

 sults have been so open and obvious, that the ca- 

 vils of critics have been hushed, and the fears of 

 the doubting dispelled. His fields and his garners 

 and his stalls have all been the witnesses of his 

 success, until prejudices have been overcome, and 

 those within his influence have gladly adopted his 

 plans. But the circle is comparatively small, and 

 the aid of newspapers and farmers' clubs must be 

 invoked to scatter the good tidings throughout 

 the land. 

 Several articles from the pen of Mr, H. have 



been published in these columns, relating his 

 everj-day practice, especially upon muck and 

 barn manure, muck and ashes, and muck and 

 lime composts. Li relation to the first of these, 

 he says : 



"The floor of my stables is just long enough for 

 the cattle to stand or lie down upon comfortably, 

 and no more. Five feet and three or four inches, 

 from the mangers or standards to which the cattle 

 are tied back, is a suitable length of floor for cows, 

 or for young cattle generally ; for larger animals the 

 floor should be proportionately longer. Immediate- 

 ly back of this floor, I have a water-tight plank 

 trench, four inches deep, and twenty inches wide. 

 Between the trench or the outside or boarding of 

 the barn, there is a walk or passage-way two feet in 

 width. This trench is the place of all places for 

 manufacturing compost manures. Some winters, 

 muck is put into the trench, and others, leaves and 

 vegetable mould collected in the w^oods. Last win- 

 ter, muck was used. It was dug in August previ- 

 ously, and piled on dry ground near the swamp to 

 drain and lighten ; a part of the heap was carted to 

 the barn as soon as the cattle were to be stalled in 

 the fall, and the remainder was hauled by the first 

 sledding and piled near the stable door or imder a 

 shed open on the south side. In the coldest weather 

 of winter, the frost penetrated the pile^Dretty deeph- ; 

 but the muck was easily cut up with a sharp pick- 

 axe, and it thawed very soon after being deposited in 

 the trench. I could have readily put the muck in a 

 place mostly free from frost, but preferred to have it 

 frozen ; for that operated mechanically to break 

 down the lumps, to divide, pulverize and improve it. 



A bushel basket full was put behind each animal, 

 every morning. The droppings of the day and 

 night fell into the trench, upon the muck, the liquid 

 droppings completely saturating it, and the contents 

 of the trench, thus mingled, were thrown out in the 

 morning. In the very coldest days of winter, a thin 

 sprinkling of straw or other litter was placed over 

 the bottom of the trench, before putting in the muck, 

 which prevented the latter from freezing to the 

 trench. There were but few days, however, cold 

 enough to make this precaution necessary. The cat- 

 tle always had a bedding of straw or other coarse 

 litter, which was daily thrown out with the contents 

 of the trench, and served to swell the manure heap, 

 to keep it up light, and to promote fermentation. 

 The compost was nicely and minutely mingled every 

 day by this mode, and no shovelling ever afterwards, 

 was necessary. The droppings falling upon the muck 

 fresh and warm from the animals, and coming in 

 contact with every portion of it, produced an imme- 

 diate action on it, so that a much larger quantity of 

 muck w' as well prepared for use in the spring, than 

 could have been properly prepared with the same 

 stock, and by ordinary modes of composting. 

 ******** 



"It has been a custom with me, for many years, 

 to collect from ten to twenty cords of this material, 

 composting it variously with the excrements of an- 

 imals, and applying it for the improvement of tillage 

 fields : and I have not yet seen cause to abandon 

 the custom. True, it would not be advisable to re- 

 move this mould indiscriminately from the forests ; 

 but if taken from the hollows and places where it 

 gathers in extra quantities, it soon accumulates 

 again siifticiently for the wants of the trees , and if 

 it be taken only from these places, leaving the knolls 

 and plains undisturbed, the injury, if any, to the 

 forests, will bo more than balanced to the owner by 

 the benefits imparted to his tillage fields and crops. 

 * « * If you winter fifteen to twenty head of cat- 



