1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



251 



winter. Most of the varieties are easily raised 

 from cuttings, and can be purchased at so 

 Fmall a price from florists, that it is by far the 

 more economical to buy a lew dozen in the 

 spring than to attempt to keep tl em through 

 the winter. Small plants turned out from the 

 pots in June soon make large plants, and by 

 October will be two or three feet across. 

 They continue to flower after severe frosts, 

 and are among the last lingering flowers of 

 autumn. 



The seed, sown in May, in the open ground, 

 will begin to show flowers in August ; but, 

 when the seed is sown in January, in the 

 green-house, and afterwards potted and placed 

 in a hot-bed in March or April, will begin to 

 flower in June. 



Seedling plants produce seed in abundance, 

 but those plants which have been a long time 

 propagated IVom cuttings, lose that power in 

 a great measure, and produce none or very 

 sparingly. It'is easy enough to raise seed- 

 lings, but the chance of getting an improved 

 variety, may not be one to twenty or one in 

 fifty. 



No plant equals the Verbena for masses, 

 particularly when grown in fanciful beds and 

 on lawns, as the brilliancy of the flowers con- 

 trasts finely with the green grass. 



For the Xeic England Farmer. 

 MAKING, HOUSING Al'JD APPLYING 

 MANUKeJ. 



As the farmers of the New England States 

 must have manure in order to raise crops 

 profitably, I thought I would write a little of 

 my experience in relation to its management. 

 1 have tried many experiments with manures 

 and crops, but 1 am afraid I shall make poor 

 work in getting an intelligible account of 

 them on paper. 



In the tirst place I make all I can and keep 

 it housed as much as I can until wanted for 

 use. In fdct it is all undercover, except what 

 the cattle diop in the yard in warm pleasant 

 days. My horse manure goes under the sta- 

 ble where the hogs root it over and keep it 

 from heating. Then I endeavor to save the 

 liquids. In the summer I keep muck in the 

 pig pen, and make large quantities of good 

 manure there. My cow stable has a trench, 

 with a walk behind it, in which 1 keep saw- 

 dust, dry muck or anything that will save the 

 liquid. This is thrown under a shed, as I 

 have no cellar, — the land on which my barn 

 stands being very level. I keep muck in the 

 yard and sheds to mix with the manure, and 

 to put at the back door and under the piivy, 

 where all the slops and suds are thrown, to 

 keep it from smelling bad. I clean these 

 places out twice a year. It is surprising to 

 see how much manure one can make with but 

 little cost when we go to work in earnest. 



But my experience has taught me that the 

 great secret lies in keeping manure well 



housed until wanted for use. I think one 

 load from my shed is as good as three fiom 

 my yard, and equal to two loads from a heap 

 that has been exposed to the snows and rains 

 through the winter and spring. 



And here, Mr. Editor, I beg leave to differ 

 a trifle from your remarks on Work for Feb- 

 ruary, in regard to drawing out manure from 

 a cellar to be exposed to the storms till used. 

 It may be necessary in some cases, if there is 

 not room, or if it is to be drawn up hill where 

 the ground is soft in the spring. I think the 

 less ma-nure is handled over and exposed to 

 the atmosphere and storms the more valuable 

 it is. If manure could be mingled with the 

 soil as soon as dropped, would it not be more 

 lasting in the soil ? I think heavy rains on 

 manure heaps in the fielil washes a great deal 

 of the strength of it below the reach of plant 

 roots, on sandy or gravelly soil ; on clay or 

 hard-pan bottom, it might not do so. I have 

 heard it said the soil will so retain the fertiliz- 

 ing matter in water while passing through it 

 that none will go below the reach of roots, but 

 my experience hardly agrees with this. 



I have one of the patent pipe wells in my 

 barnyard near the barn, where there is no 

 chance for water or manure to get near it, as 

 it is in a small yard by itself. It was sunk 

 twelve feet. During a heavy rain storm in 

 March, 1867, the eave spout between two 

 buildings over my manure heap got stopped 

 up and the water run on to the heap. This 

 manure heap was twenty-six feet from the 

 well, on land that was nearly level, but a little 

 higher than that around the well. In a day 

 or two the water from the well began to look 

 red. and to taste bad, and the stock refused 

 to drink it until compelled by thirst. Tue 

 water remained bad for about a week. I have 

 no doubt it was caused b}' the water from the 

 heap of manure, which passed through the 

 soil, which is gravelly. 



I have drawn out manure from my sheep in 

 the winter when the shed got too full, and 

 have found that those spots on which it was 

 piled absorb so much of the strength of the 

 manure that no crop would grow on them the 

 first year. 



I once lived on a dry, sandy farm where I 

 could use my stable manure to a very gov.'d 

 advantage in the hill for corn; but concluding 

 I was losing too much by exposing my manure 

 to the weather, I built a shed over my manure 

 heaps, and the result was that the first year 

 my housed manure was so much stronger than 

 that exposed to the weather, which 1 had pre- 

 viously used, that I got no corn, as it was too 

 powerful to be put in the hill 



There is no way I can get so much benefit 

 from manure as to plough it in four or five 

 inches deep, mostly on green sward, say about 

 thirty loads to the acre ; putting a little old 

 manure or superphosphate in the hill. In this 

 way I get good corn and potatoes. The past 

 year my potatoes yielded at the rate of -150 



