HUSBANDRY. 583 
cleaned out upon them. Where it is the praftice to tie- 
up and confine the cattle in the night-time, the ltraw, or 
other fubftances, after having been broken down and re¬ 
duced by littering them, may be ufed for covering the 
'bottoms of the yards, by which means their decay may 
probably be rendered more quick and convenient. It ap¬ 
pears alto probable, that where ftubble T fem, rufhes, leaves, 
or other vegetable matters, the textures of which are hard 
and ligneous, are employed, their decay, or reduction into 
the date of manure, may be greatly expedited by means 
of a flight portion of lime, in its active Itate, being fpread 
over the earthy bottoms before they are applied, as has 
been found to be the cafe with tanners’ bark. 
Where the matters made ufe of in the way of manures 
are liable to be rendered too dry by the weather, their 
putrefaction and decay may be much promoted, as we 
have already feen, by having them fprinkled over occa- 
fionally with water, which may be conveniently and rea¬ 
dily performed by having a pump, with troughs, fixed 
properly for the purpofe ; or, where thefe are wanting, 
from a pond in the yard. 
To render the plan the molt effectual it is capable of, 
the whole of the cattle fliould be ItriCtly confined to the 
fold or foddering-yards during the winter, and not turned 
out as is frequently the cafe into paltures, by which the 
making of much manure is prevented, great injury in 
many lit nations done to the grafs-lands, and the flock, 
from being much expofed to cold and other caules, be¬ 
nefited in a far lefs degree than is commonly imagined. By 
purfuing this method, from the great confumption of ftraw 
and the^oarler ibrts of food by the young lean cattle, 
and of hay and luxuriant vegetable roots or plants by the 
others, fuch quantities of animalized matters are voided, 
as by mixing with the bottoms of the yards haltens their 
putrefaCtion, and affords not only an immenfe increale of 
manure, but of luch as is of a very valuable kind. If 
there be not a fufficient proportion of animal dung and 
urine incorporated with the other matters, which can 
feldom be the cafe where the cattle are not regularly con¬ 
fined to the fold-yards, the manure, though it may be 
nearly as large in quantity, is found by experience to be 
very inferior in its effects when applied to land. 
Where the number of cattle confined in the fold-yards 
is great, it may be neceffary occalionaliy to remove the 
bottoms and the matters littered upon then), to the dung- 
fteads, after they have become in fome degree manures, 
by being w'ell faturated and blended with the urine and 
other animalized matters. Thefe muff be immediately 
replaced by others in the way we have juft noticed. 
The ea>thy. fubftances from the refervoirs rnuft alfo be 
occafionally emptied out upon the dung-heaps, and re¬ 
placed by quantities of frefli materials of the fame kinds, 
and the items of different grols vegetable products from 
gardens or other places when it can be done.. 
At the clofe of the feafon, when the cattle are turned 
out of the yards, the heaps of manure which have been 
thus collected and thrown together, are to be turned-over, 
in order that the animalized matters may thereby not 
only be ftiil more intimately incorporated with the earthy 
fubftances; but likewite, that more of the pure air of the 
atmpfphere may be retained among the clods, from their 
being rendered much fmaller by luch means, and the pu¬ 
trefactive procefs be thereby more perfectly produced. 
After this- buiinefs has been well performed, as little de¬ 
lay as poflible Ihould be luffered to take place before the 
manure is applied to the foil; as from the combination of 
oxygen or pure air with the carbonaceous material of the 
dung, and or azot with hydrogen, under theie circum- 
ftances, ruch fluid matters are formed as conftitute its 
moft beneucial properties, but which are afterwards con¬ 
tinually wafting fo iong as it remains unapplied to the 
ground. N 
On thefe accounts, as well as thofe which have been 
already mentioned, manure-heaps Ihould not be made too 
large, but of fucli fizes only as that they can be expedi- 
tioufly turned over, and put upon the land. And another 
advantage which attends the having different heaps and 
their not being large, is, that one can be prepared and 
carted away at a time, without the other’s being in the 
leaft injured by any delay that may happen from unfore- 
1'een caules. 
By the mixing of lime with manures compofed of earth 
and dung in the more advanced ftages of their prepara¬ 
tion, fome increafe of quantity may likewife be produced ; 
and at the fame time, as we have already feen, by its unit¬ 
ing with the nitrous acid during its formation, may pre¬ 
vent its being thrown oft’ into the atmofphere in a gafe- 
ous form, or readily wallied down from the compcfts by 
rains ; and thereby preferve a lubftance that has long been 
found ufeful in promoting vegetation. 
As a great wafte of manure is continually taking place 
from the evaporation of the more liquid parts of luch 
heaps, where they are much expoled to the aftion of the 
fun or winds, and the walhings ol the rains, it would no 
doubt tend greatly to the laving of fucli matters, and at 
the fame time conliderably promote their complete putre¬ 
faction and decay, to have them placed in iituations that 
are much fhaded by trees or other means. In the farm¬ 
yards, it is probable that moveable coverings of fome light 
kind of material might be highly advantageous for the fame 
purpoles. By thefe means themanure-heaps,in fuch places, 
may be effectually fcreened from the action of the fun in 
the fummer, and prevented from being injured by the 
heavy rains or lnows that fall in the winter. The ma¬ 
nures which have been preferved~from the effects of the 
weather in this way, have alio been found, by practical 
agricultors to be far more efficacious in promoting the 
growth of crops than under other ciroumftances, confe- 
quently capable of going much further. 
Different modes have been purfued in different places,: 
in order to procure manure from the articles of food and 
other matters produced on the farm. By fome it has been 
ftrenuoully contended, that the moft advantageous plan 
is to have the whole of the hay and ftraw confumed by 
the different animals, without employing any of them in 
the way of litter, floors or Handings for them being con- 
ftruCled in fuch a manner, as that they can be tied-up 
and kept clean and dry merely by fweeping, without be¬ 
ing littered with ftraw or other finiilar materials; while 
others affure us, on the ground of aCtual experience, that 
the method of eating the hay by the flock, and employing 
the whole of the ftraw, as well as other matters, in the 
way of litter, as we have feen above, is by much the moft 
effectual in promoting the increale of manure. But, 
though each of thefe methods maybe praCtifed with more 
or lefs advantage, according to the nature of the farms; 
as, where there is much grafs and little tillage-land, the 
former may.be preferable; but where the quantity of 
grafs is frnall, and that of arable ground large, the latter; 
it is probable, that a judicious combination of both may 
be the moit beneficial, efpecially where, in addition to the 
common articles, coarfe vegetable and rich earthy matters 
are provided and made ule of in the way which has been 
mentioned, as by fuch a combination the full effeCt can 
only be produced. In the former method, the lof’s by 
means of digeftion and animalization is probably much 
greater than has been generally luppofed by thofe who 
have maintained the fuperior utility of the practice. 
The foiling of hories and different kinds of cattle with 
rich green food, as clover, f’ummer-tares, and other artifi¬ 
cial grafl'es, cut frefh every day during the fummer-feafon, 
and placed in cribs, in the flieds or foddering-yards, the 
bottoms or floorings of which have been prepared and 
ilrewed with earthy materials and litter, in the manner 
we have already feen, is a praAice by which great'addi¬ 
tions maybe made to dunghills, as the evacuations of cat¬ 
tle fed in this way are very confiderable. It is remarked 
by the earl of Dundcnald, that experience only can teach or 
warrant the belief of how few acres of ground, under the 
culture of artificial grades, when cut green, and daily given 
3 la. 
