SHOW AND FAIR OF THE NEW YORK STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
165 
your stables, hog-pen, &c., in such order, as 
to throw all the litter and manure into the 
yard. 
2. Sink a vat or reservoir at the lower side of 
the yard, of sufficient capacity to contain the juice 
of the yard. The most common form of the vat 
is six feet width by three feet depth, and twelve 
feet or more in length, according to the size of the 
yard, and the amount of liquor flowing from it. 
When the vat is more than twelve in length, it 
will be best to divide it by partitions into two or 
three parts, so that if at any time you want to use 
only part of the liquor, you can do so without any 
inconvenience. It will be farther desirable to have 
the vat so connected with the yard, that when 
once full, and you have commenced your manu¬ 
facture, if additional rains come before you shall 
have completed your heap, of which we shall soon 
speak, you can prevent the liquid so formed from 
running into your vat, either by keeping it back in 
the yard, or by turning it in another direction. 
3. In this vat mix the following ingredients as 
nearly as you can, without actual measurement or 
weight: To every barrel of liquid, add 4 lbs. of 
stone lime just slacked, 4 lbs. wood ashes of good 
quality and dry, or an equivalent of leached ashes, 
or a | lb. of potash; \ lb. of salt, or its equivalent 
of old brine; 2 ozs. of saltpetre; 20 lbs. plaster of 
Paris, or mud, or muck; 10 lbs. of excrements 
from the privy, or 20 lbs. of horse manure. Mix 
these ingredients thoroughly with the liquid in the 
vat, and if the vat contains one hundred barrels, 
increase the above ingredients a hundred fold. It 
will be well to mix these ingredients a few days 
before you lay up your heap, and stir them every 
day, but this is not essential. 
On the upper side of the vat lay the foundation 
for the heap, by placing poles or rails, with one 
end to the vat, and the other extending from it, 
about two feet apart; on these lay other poles 
crosswise (precisely as we do the foundation for a 
stack of hay or grain), to keep the straw from the 
ground, and that the liquid may flow freely be¬ 
neath. 
o. Having everything prepared, commence laying 
up the heap by placing a layer of straw, weeds, 
stalks, or whatever you have at hand, on the foun¬ 
dation of poles, to the thickness of a foot. You 
will find great advantage from throwing the ma¬ 
terials as you collect them, in the yard, and letting 
the cattle tread on them, until they are thoroughly 
broken and wet. When the layer is a foot thick, 
stir up the ingredients in the vat, and with a pail 
or other vessel thoroughly wet the layer on the 
poles. Place another layer on the first, and of the 
same thickness, wet as before, and thus continue 
until you have raised the heap as high as you 
wish—say from six to ten feet. Be careful at 
every wetting to stir up the ingredients from the 
bottom of the vat. The easiest and quickest way 
to wet the several layers, will be to use a pump 
or elevater, with a hose attached, to spread the 
liquor over the heap. In such case, let one stir, 
another pump, and a third manage the hose. Only 
be careful whatever method you pursue, to wet 
the several layers thoroughly in all their parts. 
When finished, cover the heap with the settlings 
in the bottom of the vat, or with anything else at 
hand—common earth will answer. 
6. If the heap consist of straw, weeds, and the 
like, it will require wetting every fourth day. If 
you have used much peat, muck, or earth, with 
the straw, water once a week. To water the heap, 
make holes with an iron bar or other instrument 
in the top of it, from eight to twelve inches apart, 
and extending downward about to the middle; 
then stir the liquid in the vat, and pour it into the 
holes until the whole mass is saturated; finally, 
close the holes. At every watering make new 
holes. 
Give the heap three waterings when made of 
straw, and it will be fit for use in fifteen days from 
the time of laying it up; when much mud or 
muck has been added, thirty days. 
When it is desired to manufacture this kind of 
manure in places where barn-yard liquid can not 
be readily obtained, river, spring, or pond water 
will answer the same purpose for wetting the 
heaps as the barn-yard liquid, by increasing in a 
small proportion the ingredients for the mixture, 
as given in section 3, and adding them to it. 
SHOW AND FAIR OF THE N. Y. S. AG. SOCIETY. 
On the 19, 20, and 21 of this month; the New 
York State Ag. Soc. holds its Show and Fair at 
Rochester, and we trust that all of our citizens 
who take the least interest in the advancement 
of agriculture, and who can possibly be present, 
will make it a point to attend. The facilities of 
reaching Rochester, either by canal or railroad, 
are so great, and such is the cheapness of travel¬ 
ling, that few can object to attend on account of 
the distance. We are assured that the commit¬ 
tees have made the best arrangements for the 
reception of animals, the display of implements, 
seeds, vegetables, fruits, flowers, the dairy produce, 
and domestic fabrics; and we anticipate that the 
Show this month will be the best that has yet 
taken place. That at Albany quite exceeded the 
first at Syracuse; and we have no doubt that the 
present one at Rochester will eclipse in every 
respect all which have preceded it. Recollect 
that agriculture is the “ science of sciences,” to 
which all others are but its handmaids. The im¬ 
provements which have been made within ten 
years are very great—especially in stock of all 
kinds, with the exception perhaps of horses. We 
shall look for much greater improvement for ten 
years to come, and there is no better means of 
bringing it about than by associations in agricul¬ 
tural societies. We have given copious details 
of the great national agricultural meeting in Eng¬ 
land in this No., under head of Foreign News, and 
may our own State Society emulate its example. 
