164 
The Proper Office of Straw on a Farm. 
regarding the subject from another point of view ; that of the 
quantity of manure commonly reckoned on as ready for use on 
a farnr of a given size. If reference be made either to the 
requirements of old-fashioned covenants when they prescribed 
the quantities of dung to be applied in the course of the rotation, 
or the estimates of practical men when they theorized on the 
quantity of manure proper to be applied to each crop, it Avill 
appear that, a liberal allowance being made for the bulk of 
straw grown per acre, that amount must be increased four-fold at 
least to supply the amount of dung required. 
But not to refer to byegone estimates, I will only note that 
Mr. Morton, in his recent article, vol. xix. of Journal, p. 464, 
speaking of the horse labour performed on Whitfield farm, speaks 
of 1200 tons of dung being carted where only 120 acres of corn 
are grown. This would give 10 tons of dung as the produce of 
one acre of straw ; or, supposing the litter, as assumed above, to 
contribute one-fifth of the bulk, and no straw at all to be con- 
sumed otherwise than as litter, we should require for this result 
an average yield of 2 tons of straw to the acre on autumn and 
spring corn alike, — assuredly a very high average. I think, 
therefore, that I may safely infer that in open yards the rainfall 
nearly doubles the bulk of the manure : the excrements, liquid 
and solid, representing 6 cwt. in round numbers, 
the litter ,, 4 „ ,, ,, 
the rainfall ,, 10 „ ,, ,, 
in the composition of 1 ton of manure. 
It is noteworthy that by using covered yards we do not so 
much diminish the quantity of manure which a farm can pro- 
duce as alter the proportions of its constituent elements : in this 
latter case the litter furnishes less than one-fourth of the bulk, 
so that 200 tons of litter would provide for 850 tons of manure ; 
whilst on the other hand the amount of the excrements, liquid 
and solid, would be doubled to attain this result, and the rain- 
water removed. 
It may be interesting to consider what the size of a farm must 
commonly be which can furnish 200 tons of straw for litter, after 
other demands have been satisfied. The following calculations 
are made mainly for a light land farm, under the four-course 
system, as it is chiefly on such soils that a great breadth of straw 
is grown ; and certainly for such the worth of straw, whether as 
fodder or litter, has a special importance. On these soils 200 
Four yards filled tlie whole year round would, of course, give the same result as 
eight used only during six months. Practically, some modification will be made 
for the sake of economising buildings, if not labour; but, theoretically ,ii is easiest 
to carry out these calculations on the author's original hypothesis. 
