336 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
How About the Barns? 
Are they in complete order for the winter ? 
If not, now is the time to put them so. For 
horses and cattle to thrive in flesh, or for cows to 
yield good supplies of milk in winter, they must 
be kept warm : In order to this, they need to 
be sheltered, or if poorly sheltered, they must 
have a wasteful superabundance of food. The 
larn-ywd, where during pleasant days the stock 
will spend much of their time in winter, ought 
to be protected on the north and west sides, 
by the barns, or sheds, or by fences high and 
tight. There ought to be some sheds that 
stock can run under whenever they choose ; and 
they should be so large that all can find room. 
A good supply of straw, leaves, or other litter, 
will not only keep the cattle dry and warm, 
but will absorb manures which would otherwise 
go to waste. And, while pleading for warm and 
cosy winter quarters, we must also put in a 
plea for good air within them. The stalls 
should be cleaned out twice a day, and at even- 
ing the floors strewn with sawdust, tan-bark, or 
some other absorbent bedding ; and then if the 
barns are reasonably tight, some provision 
should be made for ventilation; at least let 
there be a small opening or two, somewhere 
not very remote from the stalls, to let in pure 
air, and also a ventilator for the escape of foul 
air which rises from the cattle. With all our 
care, there will be more or less bad air in a sta- 
ble, arising from the breaths of animals, from 
the secretions of their skins, as well as from their 
excrements, liquid and solid. Many barns are 
so ill-kept that it is always disagreeable to en- 
ter them. On first opening the door in the 
morning, the pungent odor is often almost 
strong enough to strike a man prostrate. And 
are we to suppose it does cattle and horses no 
harm to breathe such pestilential vapors ? 
Their frequent coughs, sore eyes, and other dis- 
eases show plainly enough that they suffer sadly. 
Sheltering Cattle Saves Fodder. 
— • — 
A certain amount of food is craved by a 
healthy beast, even if it do little labor and is 
kept comfortably warm all- the time. The ap- 
petites of different animals vary considerably ; 
and some animals are more easily kept in good 
condition than others, when in health and un- 
der the same circumstances. These facts fall 
under the daily observation of all farmers. The 
temperature of the animal body is always much 
warmer than the surrounding atmosphere, ex- 
cept a few hours at a time in the heat of sum- 
mer. It requires a considerable consumption of 
food to maintain this heat, and the colder the 
air, the more heat-producing food is eaten by 
the animal as a natural consequence. If it can 
not get all that it needs, its system must never- 
theless keep up its temperature, and this is 
done first at the expense of the fat, and after- 
ward of other parts of the body. The animal 
grows thin, and can endure far less labor or ex- 
posure than if well fed. Work causes a similar 
; increased consumption of food to supply the 
waste of the muscle which is worn by the la- 
bor. To secure the greatest advantage from a 
certain amount of food, animals should be shel- 
tered, and the warmer their stables are, the less 
they will eat. The question to be considered is : 
How warm may they be kept consistently with 
health? Fresh air is a necessity to neat cattle 
and horses, and they will do well in very warm 
stables if there be good ventilation. The same 
is true of hogs. Sheep, on the contrary, will 
not do well if kept very warm. They demand a 
much freer ventilation, if maintained in good 
health. When shut up simply for rapid fatten- 
ing, they feed better and fatten faster if their 
pens are airy ; but when kept for breeding, it is 
essential that they have but little more than 
thorough 6hed protection from the storms and 
high winds. Statements in regard to cooked 
food and its great advantage over uncooked, for 
most classes of stock, are to a very limited ex- 
tent applicable to sheep. They need open air, 
(not exposure to storms,) and plenty of good food. 
♦-• m m wi n »-•> 
Scotch Economy in Manures- 
A recent traveller in Scotland mentions that 
among the poor in many villages, each family 
has in the back yard a compost hole, about 
four feet square and as many deep, where ashes, 
soapsuds, cleanings of pig-stye and garden are 
put. The children go out in the morning and 
evening to gather horse and cattle droppings 
along the public roads for a mile each way, and 
carry them home in baskets and small wheel- 
barrows. The same may be seen all over Eu- 
rope, and the accumulations of manure secured 
by this industry of poor children is sufficient to 
fertilize a great many acres of vegetable gardens 
surrounding the smaller cities and villages. A 
horse probably drops as much dung in the 
street as he does in the stable, in proportion to 
the time he is in each respectively. If we as- 
sume that in any town there are on an average 
60 horses in the street 12 hours in each day, 
then they daily leave upon the street as much 
manure as one horse would make in a month. 
Care of Manure, Both East and West. 
Eastern farmers have long known that " Ma- 
nure is money, " and though many have been 
wasteful of it, yet they have saved it much bet- 
ter than their brothers at the West. We are glad 
to know both from personal observations and 
the reports of correspondents, this great point 
in economical husbandry is beginning to ex- 
cite interest in a measure proportional to its 
importance among western farmers. They find 
the com crop greatly benefited, that for tobac- 
co it is essential, and that many other crops are 
surer and better for its application. The best 
way to preserve manure, usually available, is to 
compost it with vegetable mold, under cover. 
Where straw is abundant, as on many western 
farms, it may take the place of muck or sods in 
the compost. Manure thus composted, though 
not under cover, keeps up fermentation in a 
slow way even in winter, and where muck is 
used, is in first-rate condition in spring for com- 
mon use. Very strawy compost, in some cases 
will not be sufficiently rotted, unless the heat be 
kept up by the addition of horse manure, or 
by frequent wetting by pumping the liquid 
manure of the stable over the heap in mild 
weather. As most farmers are situated, it 
would be difficult to compost the manure in this 
way either under cover or not, especially if they 
have never been in the habit of taking good 
care of manure. If cattle are kept in barns or 
sheds, and the manure be removed, it may at 
least be spread so as to form a compact heap, 
and be trodden down every time a fresh lot is 
added. This will be found of great advantage. 
It is better yet, to enclose it and keep a few 
hogs upon the heap. When young cattle are 
kept in airy sheds, the practice of letting them 
stand upon their own manure, if they be well 
littered, is not a bad one, though the manure 
which thus accumulates does not ferment or rot 
scarcely at all, and before using ought to be 
overhauled and composted, or laid up to get a 
good heat. It is a poor plan to keep cows thus. 
They require more food than when in warm 
and closer stables— the free air is necessary to 
health if they stand on the manure— and their 
food being more watery, the condition of the 
stable is apt to become uncomfortably moist. 
Manure saved in this way contains all the urine, 
which is too often lost, wholly or in part, and is 
really the most valuable portion of the manure. 
No system of making manure should be adopted 
which does not save all the liquid excrements. 
Are Manure Cellars Under Barns Best? 
It is very desirable to have manure under 
cover, that it may continue its fermentation all 
winter ; that it may be protected from the ac- 
tion of sun, wind and rain ; and that it may be 
overhauled and composted with muck or other 
things. We know of barns constructed so well, 
and provided with such good ventilation, that 
the manure below does not seem to have any 
bad influence upon the cattle or the fodder. 
Others, however, are defective in some points, 
and have at times, the rank, close smell of fer- 
menting manure pervading the entire building 
— the ammonia being distinctly perceptible in 
the stalls, and without doubt seriously affecting 
the health of the stock. This is especially tme 
where a number of horses are stabled. As a 
general rule it is preferable even in hill-side 
barns with the stock standing upon the ground 
floor, to have the manure thrown back of them 
into a lower and separate apartment, a " ma- 
nure cellar", with a grouted bottom and pit 
for containing the liquids, with a pump for 
throwing the liquid manure over the pile, and 
so arranged that the whole can be conveniently 
worked over and mixed with muck, sods, soil, 
and other vegetable matter. The fumes from 
the heating manure will thus not interfere with 
the contents of the barn nor with the health of 
the stock. Over this manure shed or cellar may 
be kept the litter for bedding, pumpkins early 
in the season, tools, etc., and if it can be con- 
structed so as to be accessible to loaded carts, 
muck may be stored always ready to mix with 
the manure daily thrown out from the stables. • 
What Sized Potatoes are Best to Plant. 
Mr. George Maw, an English experimenter, 
has made some careful trials of the effect of 
planting seed potatoes of different sizes. He 
planted in rows 2 feet apart and 1 foot in the 
row. In one experiment, 20 potatoes weighing 2 
ounces, and the same number weighing 4 and 8 
oz. each, were tried. The yield was as follows : 
The 20 of 2 oz. each (2K lbs.) yieldeJ 21 lbs. 5ii oz. 
The 20 of 4 oz. each ( 5 lbs.) yielded 29 lbs. 0i( oz. 
The 20 of 8 oz. each (10 lbs.) yielded 35 lbs. Z% oz. 
Extending these results to an acre, shows, 
after deducting the weight of the seed, that 
there is a gain of 5,069 pounds in using the 4 
oz. in preference to 2 oz. sets, and in using 8 oz. 
sets the gain over the 2 oz. was 6,942 pounds. 
Experiments with the above different sorts show 
even a larger gain than this, from using large 
seed. Mr. Maw is of the opinion that the 
use of larger sets produces larger potatoes, and 
believes that not only the quantity but the qual- 
ity of the crop may be improved by always 
planting the largest and best, and that the po- 
tato-producing power of land may be increased 
one-third by using large seed. 
