No. 10. 



vantage, where tUe ninnure on a field designed to be 

 cnltivated is seasonably carried out and mixed with 

 mould obtained from the beodlanda to form the heap, 

 which Iwing turned over and worked up onco or twice, 

 will then be fit lor use. 



Tbeie ie another matter, to which I invite the at- 

 tention of fanners ; that ie, the saving of liquid ma- 

 nures. In the best dtstricta on the continent of Eu- 

 rope, the liquid parts of manure are cansidered in 

 every respect equal to the solid. There provision is 

 made for saving and compounding them with the 

 greatest care ; in stone and waterproof vaults formed 

 under their cow-houses. In our dairy districts espe- 

 cially, where large herds of cows aro kept, a great 

 amount of this manure might be secured by vaults, 

 formed under the stalls with spouts leading into them. 

 With a view to the same object likewise, the cattle 

 instead of lying in the yards at night, should bo al- 

 ways tied in stalls. If the barn is properly ventilated, 

 and the stalls littered, they will lay as comfortably 

 and securely as in the yards ; and the saving of ma- 

 nure would much more than pay for any extra trou- 



AND GARDENEll'S JOURNAL 



157 



season, some small fields were cut six times, averag- trinsicolly worth more than the dung, as an omcacioua 

 ing fifteen inches in length at each cutting; and the and permanent dressing : and i( we take mto co^nsid^ 

 swarth very thick. 



EXPERIMENTS OF C. ALEXANDER. 



The following extract transferred from the Farmer's 

 Magazine to that spirited and valuable agricultural 

 work, Young's Letters of Agricola, is so important 

 and instructive that 1 subjoin it : 



" This intelligent farmer, Charles Alexander, 

 near Peebles, Scotland, had long been impressed with 

 the great importance of the urine of cattle as a ma- 

 nure ; and ho set about to discover, by a long and 

 well conducted series of experiments, the best method 

 of collecting and applying it. Ho began by digging 

 a pit conliguoiisto the feeding-stall, but distinct alto- 

 gether from that which was appropriated for the recep- 

 tion ol the dung. The dimensions of this pit, ac- 

 cording to his own account, were 36 feet square, and 

 4 feet deep, surrounded on all sides by a wall ; and 

 the solid contents were 192 yards. Having selected 

 the nearest spot where he could find loamy earth, and 

 this he always took from the surface of some field «n- 



ble, which it might be supposed to involve. These Lj^fg^itivation, he proceeded to fill it ; and found that. 



are homely subjects, but as important as they are 

 homely. Doubling our manures is quadrupling our 

 crops; and whoever will look with disdain upon a 

 manure-heap, is indifferent to some of the most won- 

 derful and beneficent operations of the divine Provi- 

 dence ; and to the most remarkable and instructive 

 lessons of religious philosophy. 



THE URINE CISTERN. 



From Rndcliffc's Flanders. 

 The urine cis'.ern is constructed to contain any 

 given quantity. The usual capacity of the vault is 

 for 1000 tunneavx, ("barrels containing about 38 gal- 

 lons, English,) which quantity for the rape crop, will 

 manure little more than two bonniers, or seven En- 

 glish acres. But the cistern under the stables is near- 

 ly of double size ; from this the exterior cistern is 

 filled ; and between both the farmer can fairly count 

 upon manuring in the best manner, six bonniers or 

 twenty-one Englith acres ; or perhaps two bonniers 

 in addition, of crops which do not require so much 

 manure. The whole of this quantity (exclusive oi 

 farm-yard dung, ashes, composts, &c.,) is produced 

 by eight horses and thirty six head of cattle, housed 

 winter and summer in well constructed stables, in- 

 creased by the adventitious aid of the rape-eake and 

 the vidanges from the privies. In a cistern of 1000 

 tonneaux, it is not unusual to dissolve from 2000 to 

 4000 rape-cakes at 2 lbs. each. Indeed neither in- 

 dustry nor expense is spared for the collection of ma- 

 nure, as upon that depend the produce and fertility of 

 a naturally bad soil. The farmer, who fails to make 

 these exertions, is sure to he left in the back-ground. 

 The cistern is for the most part formed under the 

 range of stables from each stall of which the urine is 

 cofiductcd to a common grating, through which it de- 

 scends into the vault. From thence it is taken up by 

 a pump. In the best regulated, there is a partition in 

 the cistern, with a valve to admit the contents of the 

 first space into the second, to be preserved there free 

 from the later acquisition, age adding considerably to 

 its efficacy. 



This species of manure is relied on beyond any 

 other, upon all the light soils throughout Flanders ; 

 and even upon the string lands, originally so rich as 



oration, that this latter manure is not treated with any 

 skill and judgment, it will not seem surprising, that 

 the cultura of white crops has never been carried hero 

 to any extent, since we have despised and neglected 



the only means of creating them.'' 



Mniiagement of Bccs.--No. 2. 



Mr. Colman — I resume the subject of bee mnn- 

 agcuient. Few insects or animals furnish more mo- 

 terials for instruction and rcficction, than the honey 

 bee. Therefore, why not use our best endeavors in 

 preparing good places lor their protection, that the 

 millers and moths may not destroy their works. The 

 blind Hubee was the first to give mankind a history of 

 that industrious creature, (the honey bee) which so 

 much conduces to man's comfort and happiness. 



In the management of the honey bee, very much 

 is required of the apiarian to guard against the moths. 

 In order, therefore, to do this, it is higlily important 

 that we obtain a good hive for the reception of the 

 bees, and lend our leisure moments in taking care of 

 them. The winter, being so long and cold in this 

 latitude, seems to be a great detriment to the honey 

 bee. In warmer countries it seems nothing to keep 



■ith three men and two horses, he could easily ac- 

 complish 28 cubic yards per day : and the whole ex- I b^ea ; it is evident, therefore, that they require warm 



pense of transporting the earth did not exceed £4I 

 IGs. When the work was complete, he levelled the 

 surface of the heap, in a line with the mouth of the 

 sewer, which conducted the urine from the interior of 

 the building, on purpose that it might be distributed 

 with regularity, and might saturate the whole from 

 top to bottom. The quantity conveyed to it, he esti- 

 mates at about 600 gallons ; but as this calculation 

 was founded partly on conjecture, for he measured 

 not the liquor, it will be better a:«d more instructive 

 to furnish and proceed on data, that are certain and 

 incontrovertible. The urine was supplied by 14 cat- 

 tle, weighing about 34 stone each, and kept there for 

 five months on fodder and turnips. The contents ol 

 the pit produced 288 loads, allowing 2 cubic yards to 

 be taken out in 3 carts ; and ho spread 40 of these on 

 each acre, so that this urine in five months, and from 

 fourteen cattle, produced a compost sufficient for the 

 fertilization of seven acres of land. He states further, 

 that he had tried this experiment for ten years, and 

 had indiscriminately used in the same field either the 

 totted cow dung, or the saturated earth ; and in all 

 the stages of the crop, he had never been able to dis- 

 cover any perceptible difference. But what is still 

 more wonderful, he fund that his compost lasted in 

 its effects as many years as his best putrescent manure ; 

 and he therefore boldly avers, that a load of each is of 

 equivalent value. 



" Conclusions of vast importance are dedu 

 from this statement : and I cannot resist the feelin 

 of plating them in a strong and advantageous lights 

 They speak a volume of instruction ; and if we are 

 willing to learn, they must lead to a vory material 

 alteration in the construction ol our barns. It ap- 

 pears, then, that in five months, each cow discharge, 

 urine which, when absorbed by loam, furnishes ma- 

 nure of the richest quality, and most durable eftects, 

 for half an acre of ground. The dung-pit, which 

 contained all the excrementitious matter of the 14 cat- 

 tle, as well as the litter employed in bedding them, 

 and which was kept separate fur the purpose of the 

 experiment, only furnished during the same period 

 240 loads, and these, at the same rate, could only 

 to preclude the necessity of manure, is now coming j ^^^^^^^^ ^^^.^^ -pj^g aggregate value of the urine 



f 



into great esteem, being ci^naidered applicable to most 

 crops, and to all the varieties of soil. 



HARLEY'S EXPERIENCE. 

 Harley who kept a dairy ol a hundred cows, near 



ih refore, when compared with that of the dung, was 

 in the ratio of 7 to G ; so that we are borne out by 

 these premises in this extraordinary inference, that 

 its pntrcsciblc liquor which in this province, and tin- 

 Glasgow, says " that the advantage^f irrigating grass ' der the management of our farmers is wasted and an- 

 lands with cows' urine, almost exceeds belief. Last nihilated as far as regards any neeful purpose, .8 m- 



places in the winter season to have ihcm live ana do 

 ell the following summer. Some apiarians bury 

 their bees in the winter, and some let them be cxpos-^ 

 ed to the inclemency of the weather. Those that 

 have practiced the former way, have very often been 

 the losers. I do not think it is a good plan to bury 

 bees, because there are other ways than to burj them 

 in the ground better adapted to protect them through 

 the winter. Those persons who keep bees, should 

 build a good bee house, and have it open to the south 

 that the sun may shine occasionally upon them. I 

 know of no better way to protect the honey beo from 

 the winter storms. 



About twenty-five years ago bees were kept to good 

 success — it was easy to raise them and have an abun- 

 dance of the sweets of life. But of lute years it is 

 almost impossible to raise bees on account of the 

 moths getting possession of the hive. There are but 

 few f"ariners m this region of country that keep bees. 

 They think the trouble and expense in taking care of 

 them, is a great deal more than the profit. Some 

 farmers have good and others have poor luck in keep- 

 ing bees. 1 do not see any thing in the way to bin- 

 der the farmer from keeping bees, if he will only em- 

 ploy a few leisure moments in taking care of them. 

 I would advise all who keep bees now at present, and 

 ntend to keep them for future years, to abandon the 

 old fashioned hive and obtain the patent hive invented 

 by Mr. Weeks. They are, in my opinion, superior 

 to any other hive now in use in the United States. 



I think, by using the above hive, bees can be kept 

 as well now as formerly. Why these hives excel all 

 others is, that we can obtain the sweets of life and not 

 kill the bees. It seems a great cruelty to destroy 

 such industrious insects, which conduce so much to 

 humm comfort and happiness. In my next I intend 

 tj give a more minute detail of the mode in which 

 bees can be kept with success. W. S. T. 



SoiUh Venice, N. K. 1842. 



Slaughtering and Packing. 

 The following terms we saw offered on an adver- 

 tisement at a tavern in Monroe Co., and dated at 

 Syracuse. We thought they might have some inter- 

 est with the farmers : 



Prices for killing, packing and inspecting, includ- 

 in.' liarrels, $1,25. The offal reserved to the packer. 

 Tallow rendered from 7 to 8 cents. Hides from 4 J 

 to 5i cents. Freight to New York, from 65 to 80 

 cents per barrel. For rendering and barrelling tallow, 

 ,$1 25 Cattle will be kept free of expense, while 

 killing off the drove. Syracuse, Aug. 15, 1842. 



