454 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[December, 
sionally to mix the droppings of the cattle with 
the contents of the yard. All the manure from 
the horses, oxen, cows, and pigs, was thrown 
into the yards and mixed with the accumulating 
mass. By September we had at least two hun¬ 
dred and fifty loads of compost of much better 
quality than was carted out in the spring, 
ready to be spread upon the meadows or to 
be plowed under for grain, and the best part 
of the year for making manure is still ahead. 
In the common practice of leaving the yards 
bare during the summer, the most valuable part 
of the manure is lost for want of absorbents, 
even if the cattle are yarded at night. There is 
nothing, to save the liquid manure, which is 
worth quite as much as the solid. Most of the 
ammonia escapes into the atmosphere. But 
with plenty of good absorbents and the frequent 
plowing and harrowing of the yard, nothing is 
lost. All the refuse material dropped in the 
yard becomes charged with ammonia, and plant 
food is manufactured very fast. It tells upon 
the grass, grain, and root crops immediately, 
and the process of renovation begins. This, of 
course, costs labor and the outlay of capital, 
but it is a kind of expenditure that pays very 
soon in the increased crops. We must either 
do this, or worse. It will not do to rely upon 
commercial fertilizers for ordinary farming. 
The great bulk of fertilizers must be made at 
home. Neither will it pay to have lean barn¬ 
yards, and grow grass at the rate of three-quar¬ 
ters of a ton to the acre, 25 bushels of corn, 30 
of oats, 10 of rye, and 50 of potatoes. The farm 
runs down and the farmer’s purse grows lean 
with this kind of management. We want to 
double and treble these crops, and by saving ma¬ 
nure any farmer of ordinary intelligence can do it. 
-.- ma i ■■■ n n ia O-i m i... ft O 
The Buffaloes. 
Thousands of people get glimpses of the Buffa¬ 
lo now-a-days in their six days rail-road ride to 
California, wdio have never before seen this the 
noblest of our native quadrupeds. Many travel¬ 
ers stop for a few days’ shooting. The Buffaloes 
thus rendered familiar with civilization are first 
decreasing in numbers; and it will require 
legislative action to preserve these cattle of the 
plains for another generation of hunters. The 
Buffalo cows drop their calves early in the 
spring, and in seclusion, from which they emerge 
as the warm weather comes on and before the 
heats of summer. At this time they receive the 
attentions of their lordly mates. The court¬ 
ships are often conducted in a very exemplary 
and quiet manner, but should two bulls take a 
fancy to one cow, a passage of arms is the only 
resource. This settles the controversy, and the 
preferences of the favorite at the same time. 
These encounters, if between strong bulls, well 
matched, are often really terrific. They meet 
running toward each other in full career, the 
clash of horns and thud of foreheads resound 
over the plain, and both recoil only to gather 
breath, run backward a ways and again rush to 
the charge. It is seldom that fatal injuries are 
received, and this is accounted for by the 
strength of the horns, (which indeed are very 
much battered), of the frontal bones, and by the 
thick pads of woolly hair which cover their 
foreheads. When one is worsted he retires, and 
disconsolate yet hopeful, follows at a respectful 
distance the happy pair, unless charmed away 
by meeting some lone cow or heifer, which will 
take compassion on his loneliness. These 
matches generally last for the whole season, 
and until the bulls and cows unite in those 
immense promiscuous herds, which blacken 
certain portions of the plains where food is 
abundant during the autumn and winter months. 
