1864] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
173 
boxes beneath them, and the fodder troughs 
(K,) also, are upon castors, and may easily be 
moved any where. M, is the boiler, and stand¬ 
ing near it, indicated by a small o, is the pen¬ 
stock and water trough. Auotlier hydrant and 
trough stand near the pond in the yard. The 
feed 1 boxes where the fodder is prepared, may 
be wheeled the entire length of each wing in 
m 
millions of these fish, which appear in the Bays 
of the Sound, generally from May until October. 
Caught with seines, they are brought to the Fac¬ 
tories, and generally thrown in large wooden 
tanks, from 8,000 to 12,000, according to size of 
tanks, heated by steam, though some parties 
cook in iron cylinders. When ceoked, the wa¬ 
ter is drawn off; and the mass undergoes a 
Fig. 5.— PLAN OP LOWER OR STABLE FLOOR, CELLARS, AND THE YARD, MANURE PIT, ETC., ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE BARN. 
the 5£ foot passage way (A)- In the left hand 
wing, Q, indicates the cow stable, 12x40 ft. B, 
stables for'oxen and calf pens, 12x27 ft. The 
hog pens (S, S,) each 8x10 ft. and communicat¬ 
ing with open yards each 12 ft. square, are close 
by the manure and compost sheds. T ,; is a privy. 
In the opposite wing are the horse stables (F, 
13x32 ft.) and loose box. Beyond these, and 
thoroughly separated from the stable by a tight 
partition, is the hen-house, (TF,) 12 by 21 feet. 
The plan though on a very small scale, shows 
the construction. The front is glass; on each 
side are rows of nest boxes; in the rear are the 
roosting ladders, and in the middle a dry pit to 
contain ashes, etc., 3 feet wide, and so deep 
that the hens can throw nothing out. Next the 
hen-house are the apartments for ducks and 
geese, designated by X, which applies to both. 
Beyond (F, F,) are sheds for carts, plows, etc., or 
which may indeed very conveniently be used for 
young cattle or sheep, or for. foddering cows in 
the yard. In the passage way ( N. j) shutes are 
placed at convenient places, so that green fodder 
may easily be thrown down to the stock from 
carts passing along the roadway, on a level with 
the second floor. These stables are therefore 
adapted to soiling. The space in the rear of the 
stalls, (F, F, F,) is a manure pit, into which the 
dung and litter is daily thrown, when the sta¬ 
bles are cleared out. The three Z-s enclosed in 
dotted lines show the places for compost or ma¬ 
nure heaps, situated under a shed, and at differ¬ 
ent levels so that liquid manure pumped up and 
carried over them will drain off. The letters, 
LM, in the corners of the yard, indicate liquid 
manure tanks, each of which takes the drainage 
of half the yard, the highest part of the yard 
being a line from the barn to the water trough 
at the pond. These tanks are located at points 
where the manure may be conveniently drawn 
off into water carts, or by hose directly upon 
the fields lying on a lower level.—The small 
building marked F, in fig. 4, is a corn crib, 12 
by 20 feet, on the ground.—One of the most im¬ 
portant characteristics of this plan is that it is 
adaptable to farms of almost any size. For a 
small farm the main building would suffice with¬ 
out the wings. The fruit and root cellars being 
made smaller, room would be afforded for the 
cattle and horses, where the cook room, etc., 
are above provided for. In order to accommo¬ 
date a larger number of animals all that is nec¬ 
essary is to extend the wings, even carrying 
them across the ends of the yard where the 
open sheds F and F, are represented. This 
would at most only involve the erection of open 
sheds for manure, etc., in the centre of the yard. 
It has been a study to save steps, to have things 
so arranged that each man can attend to liis 
own business without being interfered with, and 
the whole easily “under the eye of the master.” 
Fish Manure—Fish Guano. 
One of the means we have of getting back 
from the sea the fertility which flows into it 
from every bill-side and meadow, from every 
country ditch and city sewer, is to use the fish 
for manure. The time will never come when 
so little fish food will flow into the sea from 
our rivers and harbors, that fish will not multi¬ 
ply prodigiously along our coasts. Though it is 
true that in many parts of Europe where there 
used to be good fishing in the streams, the 
sportsmen complain that since the farmers have 
taken to thorough-draining, and scrupulously 
saving t'lie wastes of the farm, the good fish 
have nearly if not quite all disappeared. 
First among the fish used principally for ma¬ 
nure in this country, is the Alosa menhaden — 
commonly called Bony fish, Menhaden, White 
fish, Moss Bunker. From time immemorial they 
have been taken in very large quantities along 
our coast, carted directly upon the fields, spread 
broadcast and plowed in, dropped in or on the 
hill for corn, composted in various ways, and 
subsequently applied in quantities of 7,000 to 
15,000 to the acre. More recently the price of 
oil has made it profitable to take them for this 
product, and hundreds of factories have sprung- 
up on the shore of New-Jersey, in many of the 
bays and inlets of the Sound, and further East. 
The fish decay very soon after coming from the 
water, hence these fish-oil establishments load 
the breeze with odors not of “ Araby the blest ” 
to the great disturbance of many a city man 
who has located his country seat near the sea. 
A correspondent from Southold, L. I., com¬ 
municates to the American Agriculturist, the fol¬ 
lowing facts on the subject of this industry. 
“ Some 8 or 10 Factories on the east end of 
Long Island, work up yearly between 30 and 40 
powerful hydraulic pressure. After extracting 
all the oil possible, the residue is partly dried 
and run through a picker, a revolving cylinder 
with iron teeth cutting it fine, then wheeled to 
a sheltered building in large heaps. Some years 
ago sulphuric acid was sprinkled over, but 
farmers objecting to it, the practice was discon¬ 
tinued. My opinion is that the acid retained 
much of the ammonia which otherwise, in the 
heating process which the fish goes through, 
evaporates. Farmers speak highly of this fish 
fertilizer. The most valuable is turned over 3 
or 4 times to evaporate the moisture, giving the 
buyer the most of the fertilizing substance; it is 
used in drills for corn, etc., or sown broadcast 
for wheat, oats, etc. It looks but reasonable 
that this fish fertilizer should be very similar 
to Peruvian guano, the latter being the de¬ 
posit of seabirds living mostly if not entirely on 
fish. The manure contains a great deal of 
phosphate of lime and much ammonia, either 
ready formed or remaining in the meaty part.” 
The nets are sometimes drawn upon the sand 
and large quantities of it adhere to the fish, and 
subsequently constitute a notable proportion of 
the manure. Becently, however, deep-water 
fishing is practised, the fishermen going out in 
small vessels. The habits of the fish allow nets 
to be drawn around the “ schools V and gradu¬ 
ally contracted until the lower edge of the deep 
net can be drawn on board, and the fish thus se- 
cured are scooped out of the net into the ves¬ 
sels. In this way they are perfectly clean. 
Home-made Poudrette. 
“ William,” whose profitable use of the con¬ 
tents of the privy vault is noticed in the April 
“ Basket,” sends at our request, an account ot 
his process. The vault of his privy is a water¬ 
tight cistern holding 500 gallons, and fitted with 
a lid for removing the contents. Besides the usu¬ 
al accumulations, the chamber slops are emptied 
here—amounting from a family of 3 to about 350 
gallons a year. To manufacture the poudrette 
he makes a layer of soil shaped slightly concave 
like a saucer; this is covered with a layer of 
night soil, on which is placed a stratum of 
charcoal, and over this a layer of forest leaves. 
Then another layer of earth, followed by night 
soil, etc., as before, and so on until the contents 
