THE SOUTHE 



RN PLANTER. 



233 



GREAT WASTE OF MANURE. 



Not upon our land, for although injudicious 

 application may be considered a species of waste, 

 yet there is not so much to be complained of in 

 regard to the application as the rcorc-application 

 of manures. The waste is in not saving, in 

 not accumulating, every thing of the kind which 

 will fertilize the soil from which we take our 

 crops. We know from our own personal expe- 

 rience and observing others, that twice as much— 

 nay, three times as much manure may be saved — 

 we will say saved — not manufactured, but saved, 

 as there now is. How many sink spouts are 

 there in the country, that are almost hourly 

 pouring out their contents, to be floated away, 

 no where in particular, and ft to waste their fra- 

 grance on the desert air ?" How many stables 

 are there in the country, where there is not even 

 ?he shadow of a fixture to save the urine and 

 liquid particles of manure which are continually 

 made there ? Nearly all the barns are without 

 sheds for manure. All that the cattle make 

 during housing time is thrown out, of the win- 

 dows, where it is exposed to the weather. The 

 arrangement seems to be the very best in the 

 world to dissipate the valuable parts and leave 

 the poorest. It is, first a layer of manure — then 

 a layer of snow — then manure— -then a heavy 

 rain-— then a strong wind and sunshine — then 

 manure, and so on. In the spring, we shovel 

 in what there is left us, and which is of such 

 strong and stubborn material that the combined 

 attacks of snows and rains, and freezing and 

 thawing, and sunshine and winds, could not 

 overcome, and this we apply to nourish our crops, 

 and to supply the delicate and fine vessels of the 

 rootlets with nourishment. Isn't this admirable? 

 A little care and attention, and a small amount 

 of labor, would enable the farmer to preserve and 

 apply his manure in a much more judicious and 

 saving manner. We do not hesitate to say, that 

 we have found by experience, that when stable 

 manure is housed until it is applied to the earth, 

 it is one-third better — more efficacious, because 

 more full of the necessary materials for feeding 

 vegetation. Liquid manures are seldom, if ever, 

 used among us. In Flanders it is a very com- 

 mon thing for a farmer to pay ten dollars (forty 

 shillings of their money) for the urine from a sin- 

 gle cow during the year. And what is the re- 

 sult of such saving? Why this: More human 

 beings are comfortably supported on a square 

 mile than in any other country on the globe, 

 unless it may be China, where equal attention 

 is paid to these savings. There are various 

 modes adopted for saving these things. One is 

 to have cisterns into which it may run. The 

 cheapest mode is to have some kind of compost 

 which will absorb it. We find in the last New 

 England Farmer a communication from Dr. 

 Jackson, giving a very cheap but excellent mode 

 Vol. IV.— 30 



of concentrating and preserving these fluids. — 

 His plan is the following: "Take twenty mea- 

 sures of dry peat and one of ground gypsum, 

 and mix them together. Place barrels half full 

 of this mixture in places where urine may be 

 collected, and it will be found that the salts and 

 ammonia of many barrels of urine will be con- 

 solidated in this mixture, without giving the 

 slightest odor, or being in any way offensive, 

 for the salts are taken up, and the carbonate of 

 ammonia, formed by decomposing urea, is im- 

 mediately absorbed. 



" This method of getting rid of a nuisance 

 and of consolidating a valuable liquid manure, 

 full of the most useful salts, ought to receive at- 

 tention. A mixture of peat or swamp muck 

 and gypsum (plaster of Paris) will also serve 

 to absorb all the disagreeable gases of vaults, 

 which will be converted into fertilizing com- 

 pounds with the sulphuric acid of the gypsum 

 and the organic vegetable acids of the peat " 



Here, then, is a very simple but at the same 

 time very efficient mode of securing the valuable 

 ingredients of the sink and other disagreeable 

 but necessary places about our premises; one 

 which every farmer can adopt. A small pit, 

 made with a covering to keep out sun and rains, 

 filled with the above materials, would be a little 

 mine of wealth to every farmer, and we may 

 say a mine of health too, for it would swallow 

 up all the pestiferous and noxious gases which 

 must invariably arise from the decomposition of 

 such offal. — Maine Farmer, 



CURE FOR HOVEN. 



Take \ lb. of lard, 1 pint of milk, boil both 

 down to a pint, mixing them well together. — 

 Give half of this immediately at blood heat, 

 and the remainder soon after.— Central N. York 

 Farmer. 



We have no doubt of the efficacy of the above 

 cure ; we cured a very bad case of hoven in a 

 young Durham heifer two and a half years old, 

 by a very similar treatment. Our dose consisted 

 of a pint of fish oil, a pint of molasses, two 

 ounces of ginger, the whole mixed in a quart of 

 hot water. We divided and gave the mixture 

 in two doses, the second dose in an hour after 

 the first, taking care to keep the animal moving 

 until the medicine operated. — Ed. Am. Farmer. 



For the Southern Planter. 



THE TRANS-ALLEGHANY COUNTRY. 



Mr. Editor, — Having just returned from a 

 trip to the mountains of Virginia, I propose to 

 hold a little talk with you upon the agricultural 

 capabilities and prospects of that part of the 

 world. 



Permit me to say, en passant, that the light 



