198 
Tour in England. 
Tour in England, No. 7. 
Wood being scarce and high in England, the 
farm buildings are almost universally of stone 
or brick walls, with thatched, tiled or slated 
roofs. Those of an ancient date are often of 
large dimensions, and very singular in con¬ 
struction 5 the walls not being over 4 to 8 
feet high, and the roof running up 30 to 50 
feet or more, at quite a steep slope. From 
these, high walls and thatched sheds run 
off at right angles, inclosing the barn-yard 
on three sides, leaving it open only to 
the south; so that however rude and incon¬ 
venient the buildings may be, the yard is al¬ 
ways protected from the cold wind, and 
thereby made a comfortable shelter for cat¬ 
tle ; a matter, we regret to say, that is not 
sufficiently attended to by the American 
farmers in planning their buildings, and 
which deserves severe animadversion. The 
more modern construction of barns and sta¬ 
bles in England is very complete. These 
are of handsome architecture, with strong 
walls, slated roofs, and abounding with every 
convenience. They are placed in the form 
of a quadrangle, inclosing large yards, well 
paved with round cobble stone, and usually 
hollowed in the centre. When horned cattle 
are not kept to eat up the straw, as fast as the 
grain is threshed out, it is spread in the yard 
for the comfort of the stock there, and to rot, 
and be mixed up with the manure the follow¬ 
ing spring, to be applied to hoed crops. We 
saw few cess-pools here, and suspect that 
in this respect generally, England, as yet, is 
far behind Flanders in the saving and appli¬ 
cation of liquid manures. 
As the country does not abound in springs, 
and as the climate is very wet, the necessity 
of wells to supply their place is obviated by 
making ponds. These, too frequently, are 
situated close to the barn-yards, and receive 
all their wash, which is not only a great loss 
in swallowing up the liquid parts of the ma¬ 
nure, but must prove, even in this cool cli¬ 
mate, thus mixed with the drink of the stock, 
very prejudicial at times to its health. Yet 
we found many farmers so ignorant, or so 
obstinate in favor of the custom, as to con¬ 
tend that this wash even possessed sanative 
qualities. We wish the system of paving 
barn-yards could be introduced more gene¬ 
rally among us than now prevails, as it gives 
them a neat, comfortable appearance, which 
makes it a pleasure rather than a disgust 
then to the lover of domestic animals to visit 
them. 
Early in the spring, the manure is piled up 
into large heaps, when it undergoes “ firing” 
and fermentation ; this certainly causes a 
great loss, as the ammonia and other vola¬ 
tile gasses, which are its most fertilizing 
properties, thereby escape into the air. The 
object of fermenting and firing it with the 
farmer, is to destroy all hay and weed seeds 
that are accumulated in it, and thus prevent 
the springing up and growth of noxious ve¬ 
getables among his crops. This undoubtedly 
makes a cleaner field, and one that requires 
much less hoeing, but then is not the loss sus¬ 
tained in the firing of the manure equivalent 
to the extra labor required in destroying the 
weeds'? We often put this question when 
in England, not only to the practical farmer, 
but to scientific men, who had written much 
and ably on manures, yet never obtained a 
satisfactory answer, from the reason, we sup¬ 
pose, that, those with whom we came in 
contact, had not made it a subject of experi¬ 
ment. Our inference is, that where labor is 
dear, firing would be best; but where labor 
is cheap, the application of it in an unfer¬ 
mented state, is the most economical. When 
land is so cheap as it is in many parts of 
America, some contend that it is best to ap¬ 
ply the unfermented manure on a naked fal¬ 
low, and then as fast as the weeds get up, 
plow them in, and for the next year’s crop 
they thus have a clean field and a greatly en¬ 
riched soil. This, however, is doubtful, and 
we should be glad to see it settled by careful 
experiment on the different soils in various 
localities. By placing a layer of manure, 
then scattering a small quantity of gypsum 
upon it, with an intermixture of earth, then 
another layer of manure, and so on till the 
pile is completed, giving it a good coating ol 
earth for the last operation, might possess all 
the advantages of firing, and still retain the 
volatile gasses that would otherwise escape 
and be lost. 
Where the soil is heavy, not only is the 
barn yard paved, but the lanes leading to it 
are gravelled, or Macadamised, which is 
another great comfort that our wealthy land¬ 
holders little heed, more especially at the 
west. 
Much more attention is paid to plats of 
turf and flowers and shrubbery around their 
houses than with us, and in addition to these, 
every good farmer has his own extensivekitch- 
en and fruit garden, where all things proper for 
them, that will grow in the open air, are pro¬ 
duced in great perfection. The best gardens 
are enclosed by a high stone or brick fence, 
which breaks off the cold winds, and enables 
them to better hasten or retard the growth of 
fruits and vegetables. On a south exposure of 
