THE 
30-—1846.] 
AGRICULTURAL GAZETTE. 
507 
a 
their ‘efforts for the general good, present to the world 
the spectacle of a powerful and prosperous—a happy 
and a loyal people. 
ON MEASURE WORK. 
. Wz now come to operations connected with the cul- 
tivation of the different crops. Most of them are suit- 
able for payment by measure, though it is often as 
economical when a number of women are at work with 
the hoe, to pay them day’s wages if you can get a steady 
Working man to head the party, and keep them all 
Moving steadily at their work. 
l. Hoeing Grain Crops.—This will cost from 3s. to 
5s. by hand, according to the texture of the soil, and 
the width between the drills, the larger interval ad- 
Mitting of a larger hoe; and thus the land being hoed 
More rapidly. Horse-hoeing, with a machine taking as 
Many rows as the drills did, will cost about the same as 
the drilling, say Is. 3d. per acre. 
2. Hoeing Green Crops.—Turnips sown broadcast 
May be singled and hoed, and hoed again, and a third 
me, at the proper periods, for 10s. an acre upon the 
Whole, Turnips or Mangold Wurzel sown in drills 
2 feet apart, may be singled for 3s. 6d. per acre, and 
Oed a second time for 2s., costing 5s. 6d. per acre. 
The horse-hoeing which the crop should receive before 
being hoed, requires a man and a horse to about three 
acres per diem, or about ls. 6d. per acre. It is, how- 
ever, generally as well to have the singling and hoeing 
the Turnip crop done at day's wages. To be sure if 
e plants be singled at the proper intervals, and the 
Weeds all cut off, it hardly matters how roughly the 
lants that are left be treated (for they are the better 
or a little rough usage), but still the master ought to 
be able to keep a close superintendence over this im- 
Portant operation ; and if a band of, say 12, women be 
Set to work, each taking a row next the other, and a 
little behind her, and the whole party be headed by a 
ady working man, who keeps them up to him by 
helping on the laggers, they will get over nearly four 
acres in a day, and do the work as cheaply and well as 
i lt were let to them by measure. Carrots cost more 
to Single and clean than Turnips ; they are of very slow 
Browth in the first stages of it, and weeds thus grow up 
cause we dare not cut them off till the young plants 
Show themselves. Tt is well to sow a few Oats or Bar- 
ley seeds along with the Carrots, in order that these 
Owing up we may see where the drills will appear, 
and thus hoe easily in safety. The plants are also left 
Nearer one another in the rows than are the Turnip 
Plants, and this of course adds to the expense of singling. 
may be let at from 6s, to 8s. per acre for the former, 
B from 45, to 6s. for the latter, according to the tex- 
à Té Of the soil, and its freedom from weeds. When 
one by horse they may cost from 1s. 0d. to 2s. for the 
one, and about 2s. 3d. per acre for the other. Under 
the head of tillage operations digging and forking the 
and must be enumerated. Of course they will cost 
every variety of price according to the texture of the 
Soil, and the depth to which it is to be turned; from 2d. 
to 3d. per perch, of 53 yards square, may be considered 
the average cost, but it very often exceeds this, as for 
Instance we have had 20 acres dug this year 10 inches 
deep with the grafting tool, and it cost us 44d. per perch. 
I find I have placed under the head of operations of 
Cultivation paring and liming (the annual paring and 
ming which in some districts is given to stubbles) ; 
and the management of fences. The latter has been 
already fully described in this journal. I may just men- 
ton that the expense of the ditch and bank work, may 
€ fairly estimated at 2d. per cubic yard if paid for by 
Measure, and that all the other operations requiring 
pu for their performance, should be done by the day. 
d paring of stubbles costs from 5s. to 9s. per acre, 
wording to the texture of the land, and the burning 
"s cost according to the. quantity of material to be 
want. The latter operation may be done by a lot of 
ther? and children at day’s wages. In some districts 
E Operation of stifle burning obtains. A bunch of the 
ele, ora buneh of straw is lighted at one end, and 
E ed round with a few heaps of the half dry clayey soil, 
pus then covered slightly with the rubbish, earth, and 
®eds, &e. gathered together ; and a small heap is thus 
many depending almost entirely on it (on farms where 
much manure cannot be made), for their best Turnips. 
Though my father and self have not done it to a large 
extent, but such has answered well; in fact, paring 
and burning is generally acknowledged amongst us to 
be’part of the best husbandry we can adopt."— M. S. 
MANAGEMENT OF FARM-YARD MANURE. 
I mave long been of opinion that it was very possible 
to construct receptacles for holding fold-yard and other 
manure in such a manner as to render them very im- 
portant adjuncts in the economy of that part of farm 
management which depends upon collecting and pre- 
paring manures. 
ESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS 
MIDI 
SSS 
c 
and a hole made through the wall to communicate with 
; a drain leading 
A ofraising liquid 
into 
MUM e. 
ot at 
rately. The following table will show iiis capacity of 
the bins in the tower, as shown upon the plan ; also ihe 
capability of greatly increasing them by enlarging the: 
area of eac 
ft. in. feet cubie yards 
Abin 6 0 square and 21 deep, will contain 28 of manures. 
» 68 » 21 » 35 » 
STE » 21 » 42 Y: 
71 if 21 e 4951 s 
gt E] m" 21 » 56 » 
It will be seen by this table that by increasing the: 
area of the bins to 8 feet 6 inches, double the capacity 
will be obtained without very materially inereasing the 
area of the site upon which they may be built ; the ex- 
terior dimensions of the first is 14 feet 3 inches, of the 
last, 19 feet 3 inches; each tower contains four bins; 
therefore, the smallest will hold 112 cubie yards, and. 
the largest 224 cubic yards. When the whole contents 
of a bin are decomposed and consolidated by pressure, it 
is more than probable that it will contain materials that 
originally occupied more than double this space. 
By means of bins constructed as I have here de- 
scribed, vast quantities of manure could be stored ina 
building occupying no more space than a two-stall 
stable ; indeed, it might, in some cases, be desirable to. 
place the towers over.a tank, divided into compartments. 
of the same dimensions as those in the tower ; the tank 
might then be said to occupy the basement story, and. 
the bins the upper floors or part above ground ; eac! 
compartment of such a tank (6 feet square) would con- 
tain for every yard of depth 684 imperial gallons, or the 
four eompartments, 2736 gallons, which is, I believe, 
somewhere about the quantity of liquid manure made 
by four cows in six months. 
When the straw, &c., in a fold-yard or elsewhere has- 
lain long enough to answer the purpose of litter, it 
ought, I should say, to be taken up and stored in the 
bins, because in this state but a very slight and partial 
I will first deseribe the plan accompanying this com- 
munication, and then proceed to show the use of it. 
The plan consists of what may be called a square tower, 
the walls of which are supposed to be of brick, 9 inches 
thiek ; the exterior dimensions of each side of the tower 
is 14 feet 3 inches, and the height 25 feet ; the inside is 
divided into four compartments, each 6 feet square. 
stade, so that the combustion going on within it shall 
Moulder and cliar the vegetable matter it contains, 
hay. Practice is much approved of, and is spreading. I 
ave no experience in the matter myself, but I take the 
tlem; 
3o tof land :—« The usual price given in this neigh- 
io 
WE 
biter 
burnin, 
now gene- 
ley cultivator when the land is hard, the 
pA emg unable to pare it. 
Sodio <<« 
In the centre of the tower, at the intersection of the 
four cross walls, there is an upright post, securely 
built into and otherwise secured to the walls ; to this 
post is attached a light crane, with a barrel and winch 
to lift the manure into the bins ; at the end of the crane- 
rope, or chain, is a wrought iron grab, which will grasp 
and take up about a barrowful (say the eighth part of 
a cubic yard) of manure at one hoist. The crane would 
enable two men to fill the bins with great ease and ex- 
pedition ; it would take less time and labour to raise 
a cartload of manure into the bin than to fill the cart in 
the fold-yard, and the contents of the bins might be 
taken out of them and placed in carts alongside of the 
tower with equal facility. If the tower was built on 
one side of the fold-yard and near the stables the manure 
might, in such ease, be hoisted immediately out of the 
fold-yard into the bins. The floor of each compartment 
~ “May observe, stifle burning is much approved of, 
of the bins should be laid with a fall towards one corner, 
p can have taken place in the materials in-- 
tended to be converted into manure, Now, when it is- 
put into bins in this state, it is certain that fermentation. 
will take place and heat be evolved in the same manner 
as in hotbeds made of similar materials, every fresh 
addition of litter will ferment as in the first instance,. 
and so on till the bins are full; the mass in the lower 
part of the bin will of course cool in time, and keep 
cooling upwards as the process of decomposition goes. 
n; considerable subsidence and reduction in the 
original bulk of the litter, will also take place. The 
ammoniaeal gas generated during the process of decom- 
position, would have to pass upwards through the mass. 
of litter, &c., and its escape might be prevented by 
sprinkling the surface with diluted sulphurie acid, or by 
covering it with gypsum, &c., which would convert 
the ammoniaeal gas into a sulphate of ammonia ; liquid 
manure would have to be added to the fresh litter in 
such quantities as might be necessary to excite gentle- 
and regular fermentation ; if the heat became too stron 
it could be checked by an extra dose of the liqui 
anure. 
The advantages of such a plan as I have described, 
are,in my humble judgment, of immense importance, 
and well deserving the most serious consideration of 
practical men. By it vast quantities of manure may be 
collected in a comparatively small space ; decomposi-- 
tion will go on without waste of the gases generated 
during the process, and a much greater quantity of 
manure produced from a given quantity of litter or 
other materials, than is now done by the present 
general wasteful practice of making open dung-heaps. 
It would have this further advantage, namely, that of- 
being reduced to a proper state for application to the 
land, and would keep in this state for a long period 
without deterioration or loss of its fertilizing properties 5. 
and I am inclined to believe, that it would be a long: 
stride towards perfecting an old and favourite project 
of mine for converting farm-yard manure into a state- 
fit to be drilled in with seed. If this can be accom- 
plished as I believe it will be, and ere long too, a very 
important step will be gained towards economising the 
application of farm.yard manure. As I am on the sub- 
ject of converting manure into a state suitable for this 
purpose, I may as well explain how J think it might be 
done. Suppose a manure bin tower to be constructed 
as I have described, and that one or more bins are 
filled with manure in a rotten and compressed state, 
this manure should be taken out and placed under 
cover, say in sheds, or against the sides of the tower, 
and protected by an awning in bad weather, there to 
remain till partially dried, or until it was in a condition 
to be reduced to a very coarse powder, suitable for 
drilling in with seed by itself, or mixed with other fer- 
