THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
March 16 . 
464 
merits connected with them, is the facilities for box 
feeding, which is adopted in the feeding apartments for 
Cattle, Pigs, &c. In some of them I have noticed a 
mixed system of management, some animals being 
stalled, others kept in yards with shed attached, and in 
all cases where stalling is practiced tanks arc used to 
receive the liquid drainage. 
The use, however, of the liquid-manure after it is 
obtained, and the manner in which it should be applied 
to the land, has been for some years a matter of much 
dispute between some of the most enlightened agricul¬ 
turists of the period. My own opinion on this subject 
is, that whilst we can purchase guano, bones, &c., at the 
present prices, it does not pay for the labour to mix 
ashes, and other dry materials with the liquid, for the 
purpose of converting it into a drillable state, nor do 
I think it answers to apply it to grass land in a 
liquid state, unless it is highly-diluted, in which case, 
the quantity being so much increased makes it de¬ 
sirable to use it near the Farm-stead, where but little 
cost is incurred for carriage; it may, however, be used 
with advantage in this diluted state with the liquid 
drill. The mode of littering the boxes is important, 
both for the health of the animals, as well as making 
manure. The plan of cutting the straw has been tried, 
and found not to answer, unless cut into unusually long 
lengths, either for Pigs or Cattle; the former rout it up, 
and the latter, from their weight, sink into it in the act 
of moving about, both these causes being sufficient so to 
disturb the manure as to keep it in a fermenting state, 
which taints the atmosphere of the boxes, and proves 
prejudicial to the health of the animals, at the same 
time setting free the ammonia, the most volatile, yet the 
most valuable, portion of the manure. These disad¬ 
vantages are completely avoided when the boxes are 
kept supplied with a moderate quantity of straw in the 
ordinary state. The method of feeding animals, and 
allowing them to lie on boards, or grating, whereby the 
manure is dropped on ashes, &c., has not met anything 
like general approval, yet the idea, I think, should not 
be entirely discarded, for in pasture districts, where little 
or no bedding can be procured, large quantities of good 
l manure may be obtained, and the accommodation 
; thereby furnished is certainly preferable to the old 
method of stallipg, whereby nearly all the manure was 
lost, and the animals allowed to lie down in their own 
excrement. 
The best mode of management of the manure when 
moved from the stalls, boxes, or sties, has been variously 
advocated even by scientific men, and by those who 
have designed modern farm-yards, &c.; some deem it 
best to keep it in the dry by a covored pit, into which 
the liquid-manure is allowed to run from the stalls, &c. • 
others advocate the open and uncovered pit; but I en¬ 
tertain the opinion that it should be carted to the heap, 
and the horses and cart allowed to pass over the mass 
with each successive load, it will then be firmly pressed, 
fermentation will be diminished, and it may be covered 
with earth when the heap is completed. 
Joseph Blundell. 
{To be continued.) 
THE CONTRAST. 
By the Authoress of “ My Flowers." 
“ Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while 
the evil days come not," is a solemn charge to the sons of 
men. Terrible is it to see the hoary head, .when it is not 
“ found in the way of righteousness ; ” and beautiful, glorious 
is it to see the youth giving his earliest and best ways, the 
first fruits of life and strength, to the service of Him, who 
has so emphatically said, “My son, give mo thine heart.” 
The following sketch is from the pen of our kind friend who 
has so often helped us to pleasure and profit. 
“ There now reside, in a flourishing town in the midland 
districts, two mercantile men, whose progress in life has 
been very similar, inasmuch as they have both risen from 
small beginnings to he men of large worldly substance. 
One, however, is a very aged man, and the other in the prime 
of his days, who, though healthy, is not nearly so rich as 
the elder. The rise of the younger, whom we will call Mr. 
Smith, has been most remarkable. His grandfather was 
well known in the town as a vendor of refreshments, which 
he carried in a basket on his arm among the market people 
on a Saturday night; and his peculiar cry, by which he 
attracted the attention of his customers, is well remembered 
by many to this day. By the help of some friends, his 
grandson obtained admission into a local charity school, 
where he received an education sufficiently liberal to enable 
him to be fitted for an apprenticeship to merchants in the 
same place, at, I believe, a small weekly salary. Being a 
steady, industrious youth, he gained the confidence of his 
employers, and was engaged by them, at the expiration of 
his apprenticeship, as an assistant, in which situation he 
saved money enough to enable him at last to commence 
business on his own account. 
“ Mr. Smith was a God-fearing man, and felt, as all real 
Christians must feel, that money is a talent which will have 
to be accounted for at the judgment day. Instead, therefore, 
of wasting his gains, he spends them to the glory of God, 
and the good of his fellow-creatures. I have now lying 
before me the prospectus of a plau for the execution of 
the building of an establishment, which he has already, for 
some years past, supported on a humbler scale, at the cost of 
several hundreds per annum. The prospectus referred to is 
headed by this benevolent individual with a subscription of 
£1000. This is only a single instance of his many public 
benefactions; his private charities to the poor, and for reli¬ 
gious purposes, are upon the same liberal scale. He is, indeed, 
a pattern of Christian philanthropy, and has gained the 
veneration and esteem of rich and poor: “ When the ear 
heard him, then it blessed him : and when the eye saw him, 
it gave witness to him. Because he delivered the poor that 
cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help 
him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came 
upon him, and he caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.” 
“ How painful is the contrast exhibited by old Mr. Evans, 
the other merchant referred to ! a man of treble the wealth 
of Mr. Smith. Alas ! where is the poor man benefited by his 
benevolence ? or the public charity enriched by his contribu¬ 
tions? Echo must indeed answer, where ? His residence is 
situated about a mile-and-a-half from his place of business, 
in the midst of a pretty rural village. The house itself is large, 
and would be handsome, if there was not a bleak, cold look 
about it, indicative of the man who dwells within. The 
garden is only half cultivated ; the gates and fences are in a 
broken and tottering state; iron palisades have their 
heads Gristed off; hinges have given way, and gates 
swing and bang about at the mercy of the wintry blast. 
All this is a matter of little importance to old Mr. Evans, 
for his eye only rests occasionally upon them, and then only 
on a Sunday afternoon, or very early on a summer’s morning, 
or very late on a summer’s day. Business is all he cares 
about; can he but get gold, he cares for nothing else. It is 
true he sleeps at home, hut that is all; he invariably leaves 
it at a very early hour, both in summer and winter, without 
seeing any of his family, except the servant who prepares his 
breakfast; and returns at night after all are gone to rest, 
except the same domestic who sits up to let him in. For 
weeks together, his daughters (he is a widower) have only 
scon him on a Sunday, and alas ! then only on a part of the 
day; for as one sin leads to another, ns a nutural con- 
