Practical Agriculture. 
627 = 361 
( large estates — such as those of the Duke of Bedford, the Earl 
1 Leicester, and many other proprietors — on which no occupa- 
im has been left without a farmstead rebuilt, or remodelled 
sd improved. 
The prevailing type of homestead provides for the manu- Open and 
l:ture of manure in rectangular yards or courts, separated by yards, 
jices or by low buildings, sheltered from winds by high 
1 ildings on the north, open towards the south, and with a small 
joportion of the area covered by shelter-roofs resting partly on 
1 ■ yard-walls and partly upon pillars. The bottoms of the yards 
: • dished ; the liquid draining into a tank, whence it can be 
jmped out and either distributed over the straw when too dry, 
( used for forming moist compost, or, in fewer instances, for 
1 ter-cart irrigation. Owing, however, to the increasing com- 
iTcial value of straw, as well as the better appreciation of its 
I ding and manurial value, and the higher quality of dung 
iide under cover, the modern tendency is in favour of yards 
(Tipletely roofed-in. The exceptions are in the great straw- 
] )ducing districts of the dry-climate eastern counties, where 
s ing of straw for bedding is not a very important object, also 
t some strong lands, where bulky straw-manure is desired for 
(3ning the texture of the soil, and on farms where close and 
(. housing is not considered conducive to the hardihood and 
i mina of young cattle. 
The analyses of Dr. Voelcker, Professor Church, and other Greater value 
listers of agricultural chemistry, showing that, weight for °*^^^''*''*'^"y^'^''^ 
light, a ton of manure made under cover is worth about one- 
Ill more than a ton made in an open yard, are confirmed by a 
Ige amount of experience. This difference arises principally 
i m the smaller proportion of straw and water to the same quan- 
ty of animal excrement existing in the covered manure ; at Saving in 
l.st 50 per cent, less straw being required for litter as com- straw. 
] red with the open-yard manure ; but it is also to a considerable 
( lent due to the preservation of the fertilising salts from waste. 
lere is also economy in the covered-manure system, from the 
(ng cutting out in a richer mass ready for immediate applica- 
t n to the land, without the labour of turning over and mixing 
t promote fermentation or carting out to lie for a time in 
vsteful field-heaps. 
Thoroughly rotted manure being desired for certain crops, as. Dung-heaps. 
1' example, mangolds, the practice of forming large dung-heaps 
<!nng the winter in convenient places about the farm is still 
'ry general ; and greater attention is paid to due consolidation 
i" the retarding of fermentation and to covering down the heap 
jth a thick layer of earth for arresting the escape of volatile 
