HORTICULTURAL REPOSITORY. 



II 



and economically dispensed to his animals, the food of 

 his vegetables is suffered to waste on every part of his 

 farm. Stercoraries we have none. The urine of the 

 stock which constitutes a moiety of the manure of ani- 

 mals, is all lost. The slovenly and wasteful prac- 

 tice of feeding at stacks in the fields— where the 

 sole of the grass is broken, the fodder wasted, and 

 the dung of little effect— is still pursued. And finally, 

 the little manure which does accumulate in the yards, is 

 suffered to lay till it has lost full half of its fertilizing 

 properties, or rotted the sills of the barn ; when it is 

 injudiciously applied, or the barn removed to get clear 

 of the nuisance. Again— none but a slothful farmer 

 will permit the flocks of his neighbors to rob his own or 

 their food ; yet he often sees, but with feeble efforts to 

 prevent it, his plants smothered by pestiferous weeds, 

 and plundered of the food which is essential to their 

 health and vio-or. A weed consumes as much food as a 

 useful plant. — This, to be sure, is the dark side of the 

 picture ; yet the original may be found in every town, 

 and in almost every neighborhood. 



Is it surprising, that under such management, our 

 arable grounds should grow poor, and refuse to labor 

 its accustomed reward 1 Can it be considered strange 

 that those who thus neglect to feed their plants, should 

 feel the evil of light purses, as well as of light crops ? 

 Constant draining or evaporation, without returning 

 any thing, would in time exhaustthe ocean of its waters. 

 A constant cropping of the soil, without returning any 

 thing to it, will in like manner exhaust it of its vegeta- 

 ble food, and gradually induce sterility. Neither sand, 

 clay, lime, or magnesia — which are the elements of all 

 soils — nor any combination of part or all of them, is 

 alone capable of producing healthy plants. It is the 

 animal and vegetable matter accumulated upon its 

 bosom, or which art deposits there — with the auxiliary 

 aid of these materials diffused in the atmosphere — that 

 enables the earth to teem with vegetable life, and yield 

 its tribute to man and beast. 



I will now suggest a cheap and practicable mode of 

 providing food for vegetables, commensurate to the 

 means of every farmer of ordinary enterprise ; and that 

 my suggestions may not be deemed theoretical, I will 

 add, that I " practise what I preach." 



The cattle-yard should be located on the south side 

 ©f, and adjoining the barn. Sheds, substantial stone 

 walls, or close board fences, should be erected at least 

 en the east and west sides, to shelter the cattle from 

 cold winds and storms — the size proportioned to the 

 stock to be kept in it. Excavate the centre in a con- 

 cave form, placing the earth removed upon the edges 

 or lowest sides, leaving the borders ten or twelve feet 

 broad, and of a horizontal level, to feed the stock upon, 

 and from two to five feet higher than the centre. This 

 may be done with a plough and scraper, or shovel and 

 hand-barrow, after the ground is broken up with the 



plough. I used the former, and was employed a day 

 and a half, with two hands and a team, in fitting two to 

 my mind. When the soil is not sufficiently compact 

 to hold water, the bottom should be bedded with six or 

 eight inches of clay, well beat down, and covered with 

 gravel or sand. This last labor is seldom required, 

 except where the ground is very porous. My yards 

 are constructed on a sand loam, resting on a clay sub- 

 soil. Here should be annually deposited, as they cart 

 be conveniently collected, the weeds, coarse grass, and 

 brake of the farm ; and also the pumpkin vines and 

 potatoe tops. The quantity of these upon a farm is 

 very great, and are collected and brought to the yard 

 with little trouble by the teams returning from the fields. 

 And here also should be fed out, or strewed as litter, 

 the hay, stalks, and husks of Indian corn, pea and bean 

 haulm, and the straw of grain not wanted in the stables. 

 To still further augment the mass, leached ashes and 

 swamp earth may be added to advantage. These ma- 

 terials will absorb the liquid of the yard, and becoming 

 incorporated with the excrementitious matter, double 

 or treble the ordinary quantity of manure. During the 

 continuance of frost, the excavation gives no inconven- 

 ience ; and when the weather is soft, the borders afford 

 ample room for the cattle. In this way the urine is 

 saved, and the waste incident to rains, &c. prevented. 

 The cattle should be kept constantly yarded in winter, 

 except when let out to water, and the yard frequently 

 replenished with dry litter. Upon this plan, from ten 

 to twelve loads of unfermented manure maybe obtained 

 every spring for each animal ; and if the stable manure 

 is spread over the yard, the quality of the dung will be 

 improved, and the quantity proportionably increased. 

 Any excess of liquid that may remain after the dung is 

 removed in the spring, can be profitably applied to 

 grass, grain, or garden crops. It is used extensively 

 in Flanders and in other parts of Europe. 



Having explained my method of procuring and pre- 

 serving the food of vegetables, I will proceed to state 

 my practice in feeding or applying it. It is given 

 every spring, to such hoed crops as will do well upon 

 coarse food, (my vegetable hogs and goats.) These 

 are corn, potatoes, ruta baga, beans and cabbaged. 

 These consume the coarser particles of the manure, 

 which would have been lost during the summer in the 

 yard ; while the plough, harrow and hoe eradicate the 

 weeds which spring from the seeds it scatters. The 

 finer parts of the food are preserved in the soil, to 

 nourish the small grains which follow. The dung is 

 spread upon the land as evenly as possible, and imme- 

 diately turned under with the plough. It is thereby 

 better distributed for the next crop, and becomes inti- 

 mately mixed and incorporated with the soil by subse- 

 quent tillage. Thus, upon the data which I feel war- 

 ranted in assuming, a farmer who keeps twenty horses 

 and neat cattle, will obtain from his yards and stables, 

 every spring, 200 loads of manure, besides -what is 



