40 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
He is satisfied with the country and the 
practicability of the enterprise. We were 
not before aware of the value of the Bear 
grass, and are inclined to think it possible 
that at no distant day it may equal in value 
the cotton crop now shipped from East 
Florida. 
ONE WAY TO CONSTRUCT A MANURE YARD. 
A correspondent of the Germantown Tele¬ 
graph, gives the following directions, which 
furnish some good hints; though in all direc¬ 
tions for preserving manure, we advise to 
avoid fermentation as much as possible. Let 
the most of the rotting or decay be done un¬ 
der the soil, so that the escaping gasses may 
be preserved. The writer says, “ All yards 
designed for composting manure should be 
concave, and covered with some substance 
of a solid and indurated character to prevent 
the infiltration of the liquids, which are the 
most valuable portion of all substances of a 
fermentable nature, used for manure. A 
very valuable article for this purpose, is 
found in the concrete, made by mixing hy¬ 
draulic cement with sand, lime, wood ashes 
and clay, one part of the cement to one part 
each of the other ingredients, and allowing 
it to remain in a heap several weeks before 
using it. The admixture of the components 
will be more thorough if the mass be turned 
daily, and carefully worked as mortar is 
worked lor plastering. This will fine it, and 
render it more plastic and unctuous, and 
also increase considerably its proclivity to 
harden when applied. The surface which is 
to receive it should be perfectly smooth; all 
stones and other similar substances should 
be carefully removed, and the concrete 
thrown and on evenly spread by means of a 
float, or some other instrument which will 
lay it uniformly and firmly upon the floor. 
A good workman will put down several 
scores of yards in a day, and finish it off. 
A yard of 12 feet in diameter, should have 
a central depression of nearly three feet, and 
be occupied by a tank capable of containing 
from twenty to forty hogsheads, well ce¬ 
mented, and furnished with an efficient 
pump. If the soil is of a very light and sandy 
character, it will be well to spread over it a 
stratum of clay mixed into a mortar by the 
addition of fine gravel and water. This hard¬ 
ens eventually into an extremely indurated 
and impervious substance, which furnishes 
an excellent preparation for the cement, and 
prevents all possibility of the liquid matters 
straining into the soil. The top of the tank, 
or reservoir, should, in all cases, be consider¬ 
ably elevated above the surface of the yard, 
and provided with a floor, from six to eight 
feet square, to facilitate the working of the 
pump. When the floor is filled with mate¬ 
rials, the water is thrown over the surface by 
means of the pump and a system of troughs, 
conducting to every segment of the circum¬ 
ference ; and this should be done as often as 
twice or thrice each week, to insure the 
requisite degree of humidity of the mass, and 
facilitate the fermentation of the manure. Of 
the method of filling the yard, I will speak 
more particularly as I proceed. Over this 
yard, there should be erected a circular roof, 
supported by posts so arranged as to admit I 
of the spaces between them, on the circum¬ 
ference being closed up, to prevent the in¬ 
gress of snow during winter. This will ob¬ 
viate the possibility of the yard being flooded 
by protracted and copious rains, which, in¬ 
stead of accelerating decomposition, tends 
greatly to retard it. It will also protect the 
decomposing mass from the deteriorating ef¬ 
fects of the atmosphere. A ventilator, con¬ 
structed on the apex of the roof, will serve 
to pass off the effluvia which emanates in 
hot weather, from all decaying substances, 
unless prevented by the use of absorbents 
and fixers, such as gypsum, charcoal, sul¬ 
phuric acid and other similar matters. 
These are cheap, and should always liber¬ 
ally unite in the formation of all composts of 
whatever character, and for whatever uses 
designed. 
Assuming the basis of the compost to be 
clay, the filling in should proceed as follows: 
The clay being dumped down at the edge of 
the floor, a stratum four inches deep should 
be spread over the entire surface, care be¬ 
ing taken to minutely pulverize the lumps 
and render it as fine as possible, that it may 
be the more readily and thoroughly incor¬ 
porated with the other ingredients, and the 
manure, when mixed, be as homogeneous as 
possible. On this layer, there should be 
placed a stratum of muck of the best quali¬ 
ty, four inches thick, covered with a thin 
sprinkling of caustic lime, in lumps; then a 
stratum of chip manure followed by green 
vegetables, mixed with caustic lime—the 
latter stratum being from two to three feet 
deep, and covered with six inches more of 
clay. Bone dust, gypsum, charcoal, nitrate 
of potash, sulphates and wood ashes, in 
equal relative proportions, should be mixed 
and spread evenly over the surface, and the 
deposition proceed in the same way till the 
same is completed. It should now be wet 
down, and suffered to remain till fermenta¬ 
tion becomes active, when a sprinkling of 
dilute sulphuric acid should be applied, and 
charcoal dust, soot, and gypsum sowed over 
the entire surface to arrest, absorb and fix 
the gaseous exhalations, the escape of 
which, into free space, greatly diminishes 
the value of the manure. From three to 
four weeks should elapse before cutting 
down, an operation which should be com¬ 
menced on one side, cutting from the surface 
through to the bottom, throwing the whole 
into a heap on one side. When all has been 
turned, the whole should be again returned 
to the floor, leveled, and wet down by wa¬ 
ter from the tank, and kept moist, but not 
saturated. A few turnings during the sea¬ 
son will be sufficient. The addition of other 
substances is permissible, and these may be 
with safety added as occasion, or the effects 
to be produced, require. 
Peppermint in Michigan. —The Detroit 
(Mich.,) Democrat says: “There is more 
peppermint grown in St. Joseph county, 
Michigan, than in any other locality in the 
Union. It is the staple product of one 
town. The oil is extracted and sold at $4 50 
per pound. An acre will yield from fifteen 
to twenty pounds, making a very profitable 
crop.” 
A Fact in Manuring. —A person carrying 
some orange trees from China to the Prince 
of Wales’ Island, when they had many hun¬ 
dred fruit on them, expected a good crop the 
next year, but was utterly disappointed; 
they produced but few. A Chinese, settled 
in the island, told him if he would have his 
trees bear, he must treat them as they were 
accustomed to in China; and he described 
the following process for providing manure ; 
“ A cistern, so lined and covered as to be 
air-tight, is half-filled with animal matter; 
and to prevent bursting from the generation 
of air, a valv e is fixed which gives way with 
some difficulty, and lets no more gas escape 
than is necessary; the longer the manure is 
kept the better, till four years, when it is 
in perfection ; it is taken out in the consist¬ 
ence nearly of jelly, and a small portion bur¬ 
ied at the root of every orange tree—the re¬ 
sult being an uncommonly great yield.” A 
person hearing of the above fact, and wish¬ 
ing to abridge the term of the preparation, 
thought that boiling animals to a jelly might 
have a similar if not so strong an effect. 
Accordingly, he boiled several puppies, and 
applied the jelly to the roots of a sterile fig- 
tree ; the benefit was very great—the tree 
from that time for several years bearing in 
profusion. Hints of this kind are well worth 
preserving, for though a farmer may neither 
have the apparatus of the Chinese, nor pup¬ 
pies enough to become an object of attention, 
yet the reduction of manure to a mucilagi¬ 
nous state ought perhaps to be carried fur¬ 
ther than it is. 
Ways of Committing Suicide. —W'earing 
thin shoes on damp nights in rainy weather. 
Building on the air-tight principle. 
Leading a life of enfeebling, stupid lazi¬ 
ness, and keeping the mind in a round of 
unnatural excitement by reading trashy 
novels. 
Going to balls and parties in all sorts of 
weather, in the thinnest possible dress and 
dancing till in a great perspiration, and then 
going home through the damp air. 
Keeping children quiet by teaching them 
to suck candy. 
Eating without half masticating the food. 
Allowing love of gain so to absorb our 
minds, as to leave no time to attend to our 
health. 
Following an unhealthy occupation be¬ 
cause money can be made by it. 
Tempting the appetite with niceties, when 
the stomach says no! 
Contriving to keep in a continual worry 
about something or nothing. 
Retiring at midnight and rising at noon. 
Gormandizing between meals. 
Giving way to fits of anger. 
Neglecting to take proper care of ourselves 
when a simple disease first appears. 
When the heart is sad and a despondency 
sits at the entrance of the soul, a trifling 
kindness drives away despair, and makes 
the path quiet, cheerful and pleasant. 
Immoderate pleasures shorten existence 
more than any remedies can prolong it. 
