1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



65 



abundant evidences that the surface was once 

 covered with a heavy growth of trees. 



Through the aid of our stock, we convert 

 vegetable matter into muck in twenty-four 

 hours. Nature, in her process, has probably 

 occupied half as many thousand years ! We 

 cannot wait for her, and will therefore avail 

 ourselves of her free-will offering as a help to 

 our own exertions. 



As perfect an analysis as can well be made — 

 repeatedly tried — shows that cow dung and 

 good muck are nearly the same thing. Dr. 

 Dana says : — ' ' Departing from cow dung and 

 wandering through all the varieties of animal 

 and vegetable manures, we land in a peat bog. 

 The substance vinder our feet is analyzed and 

 found to be cow dung Avithout its musky breath 

 of cow odor, or the power of generating am- 

 monia, except in some varieties of peat. Add 

 three per cent, of potash to muck and it be- 

 comes the same as cow dung." If this be so, 

 ■will you not grasp it as the miner does the glit- 

 tering gold that he turns up with infinite labor 

 from the bowels of the eai'th ? Now that we 

 have examined the materials to be used, let us 

 suggest how to 



Compound them during the "Winter. 



In the first place, the muck to be used 

 ishould be thrown out a year beforehand, and 

 carted into the cellar when as dry as it can be, 

 in the open air. It is estunated that a cord of 

 green peat weighs 9216 lbs. ; but if quite dry 

 loses three-fourths of its weight. So that more 

 than one-half the cost of hauling is saved by 

 carting it when dry. Besides this, wet muck 

 will not perform the service desired, that of 

 absorbing and holding the fluid portions of the 

 manure. 



Cart the muck in, therefore, when it is dry, 

 and leave it in a long window, where it will be 

 at a convenient shovelling distance from the 

 fresh droppings after they are removed from 

 the stalls. Then, as oflen as twice a week — 

 each day is better — cover the di-oppings with 

 the muck. The heap should have no long lit- 

 ter with it. K not convenient to cut it, keep 

 it as much by itself as possible, and cart it out 

 in the spring and fei-ment it. If the hay, 

 straw, corn buts and stalks are cut before being 

 fed out, what are left may go down with the 

 droppings, as they will not interfere with the 

 shovelling the heap in the spring. 



Under such management, a heap of manure 

 may be secured retaining all its rich qualities ; 



even the volatile ammonia is saved. It will 

 require no fermentation, no overhauling two 

 or three times in the spring before it is fit to 

 be used, can be handled rapidly and comforta- 

 bly, and will be suitable for any crop, — the 

 flower garden, corn field or for broad-casting. 

 It will be black, unctuous and strong. On a 

 fai'm made up of heavy loams, a slight cover- 

 ing will answer the purpose of saving the 

 fluids and volatile parts, but where the farm is 

 a sandy loam, the peat may be used with great 

 freedom. Indeed, as it is adding manure to 

 manure, pile it on, if the expense of carting in 

 and out is not thought too great. 



Where this practice is observed the barn 

 will have none of those sickening odors which 

 disgust the visitor, endanger the health of the 

 stock, and taint the fodder they ai'e to eat, as 

 well as carriages, harness, and the clothing of 

 those who have charge of the barn. , If muck 

 cannot be obtained, use loam ; sand is infinitely 

 better than nothing ; on heavy granite soils it 

 is decidedly beneficial, and if the manure is 

 intended for top-dressing meadows, no other 

 material is so good. 



Great care must be observed in the selection 

 of muck, as some of it contains salts that actu- 

 ally prevent the. growth of plants. This may 

 be ascertained by exposing it to the air during 

 a growing season. Most specimens, however, 

 that are highly decomposed and of a dark 

 color, will be found to be good. 



If the muck beds of New England should 

 attract om- farmers as gold did the soldiers of 

 Cortes, its farms would soon teem with an un- 

 paralleled fertility. 



TOO MUCH STOCK. 

 It should ever be a rule with the farmer to 

 winter no more stock than he can winter well. 

 A single sheep or cow, properly cared for, and 

 provided with a sufficiency of wholesome and 

 nutritious food, water, and comfortable shel- 

 ter, will be of more value to the owner than 

 two, poorly kept. It is a singular error in 

 domestic policy, to appropriate to two or more 

 animals the food necessary for one. Yet this 

 singular mistake is often noticeable among 

 those who consider themselves — and are called 

 — good farmers ; and, indeed, is, or has been, 

 often practiced by whole communities. In 

 seasons of scarcity, more stock is kept than 

 there is food to supply their wants ; conse- 

 quently the price of hay is unduly raised, and 



