1867. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



361 



20, furnished with a 

 large closet, No. 9, un- 

 der front stairs. Cross- 

 ing a small passage, 

 No. 8, where is also a 

 door leading to the 

 yard, we reach the 

 kitchen. No. 5, meas- 

 uring 16 feet by 18, and 

 containing a large oven 

 and fireplace ; No. C 



is a carriage-shed and harness-room, 18 feet 

 square ; at No. 24, — in the yard, — is a pump, 

 with a horse-trough attached. 



The second floor contains six bed-rooms, 

 besides bathing- rooms and closets. The attic 

 may be left unfinished, and used for storage. 



IMPORTANCE OF MANURE. 



]\Ianure is the farmer's gold mine — the true 

 source of the cultivator's wealth. Every one, 

 therefore, Avho is engaged in agricultural pur- 

 suits should tax his wits and his energies to the 

 utmost to secure a sufficiency of the article, 

 and to apply it in such a manner as to secure 

 the best and most affluent results. 



The stock kept on the farm will, of course, 

 produce the usual quantity every season ; but 

 the supply from this source is often wholly in- 

 adequate to the demands ; and they who rely 

 exclusively upon it, will often fail in conse- 

 quence of not having enough to render their 

 business profitable, even with the greatest ex- 

 ertions they can put forth. 



When a regular manure shed or barn cel- 

 lar does not constitute a portion of the fixtures 

 of the farm establishment, the business of 

 forming or compounding manure may often 

 be economically prosecuted in the barn, or 

 even in the yard. The latter should be located 

 on level ground, and have a solid bottom to 

 prevent the escape of the urinous and rich car- 

 bonaceous matter from escaping or soaking into 

 the soil. 



As no part of the actual food of vegetables 



is insoluble, a considerable portion of the 

 richest constituents of manure — whether ani- 

 mal or vegetable — is too often lost by allow- 

 ing it to be leached and run off into the high- 

 way, or, as we have many times seen it, into 

 brooks or rivers ; or by excessive evaporation 

 or sinking into soil where it is not needed. 



If the yard be on a sandy foundation, the 

 centre of the enclosure should be scooped out 

 so as to present a central depression of at least 

 two feet, in a yard of fifty feet in diameter, 

 and the entire surface covered with clay, in 

 which a sufficiency of coarse, sharp gravel, — 

 free of loam or vegetable matter of any kind, 

 — has been mixed to bring it to the consis- 

 tency of firm, hard mortar. A covering of 

 three or four inches in depth, well worked and 

 finiily compacted by ramming, will, if suffered 

 to dry properly, last for many years, and prove 

 an effectual barrier against the loss of the fer- 

 tilizing liquids by infiltration ; while the ele- 

 vated edges of the yard will prove equally effi- 

 cient in preventing loss by washing. 



Into a yard so constructed, all the materials 

 ordinarily used in composting may be con- 

 veyed as convenience allows, and when mixed 

 with the liquid and solid voidings of the ani- 



