328 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
[September, 
cropped, in many places badly matted with ma¬ 
nure and with a rank growth of grass that the 
cattle do not relish. This, of course, fertilises 
the soil for another year, but it is dear manur¬ 
ing. The great objection to soiling, which 
saves everything that the soil produces, is the 
large expense of cutting and carting It is 
claimed for tethering, by those who have tried 
it in England, that it economizes feed almost as 
closely as soiling, while it saves much of the 
labor. The system pursued by Mr. Dumbrell, of 
Ditcliling, near Brighton, England, is as fol¬ 
lows : Stakes about 18 inches long are driven 
down into the ground at the outer edge of the 
field to be grazed, 32 feet apart. These stakes 
are furnished with chains 12 feet long, with a 
swivel in the middle, and each cow has a leath¬ 
er-headed halter four feet long, furnished with 
a T to fasten it to the chain. This gives each 
animal a sweep of 32 feet, and this is the 
breadth of the swath that she cuts across the 
field. She is not permitted to run at will over 
the fresh grass, for the stake is only moved 
about a foot at a time, and the cow grazes the 
new grass in a semicircle, as shown in the il¬ 
lustration, without being able to get her feet 
into it at all. The chains serve the double pur¬ 
pose of fastening the cows and spreading the 
manure. The herd graze regularly side by 
side, like a conrpauy of mowers, and are moved 
as often as may be necessary to give each one 
full feed. Thus all the grass is consumed, and 
the field is gone over about three times in a 
season. Mr. Dumbrell supplements the grazing 
after July by other green fodder,—tares, mangold 
leaves, turnips, and cabbage. He estimates that 
eight or ten acres of grass, with these additions 
in the latter part of the season, will supply 25 
cows. The advantages of the system are great 
economy in feeding, uniformity of food, in 
quantity and quality, and economy in fertiliz¬ 
ing. Land to be grazed in this way, of course, 
should be kept in the highest condition. The 
cost of attendance is the same whether it yield 
one ton of hay to the acre or six. The cows 
should be stabled at night, and the liquid manure 
saved and applied to the grass soon after it has 
been grazed. If fed exclusively by cows, the 
fall top-dressing should be from the sties or 
from artificial fertilizers, that the land may 
have the advantage of a variety of manures. 
The mode of tethering is a matter of considera¬ 
ble importance. The common mode, by fastening 
the rope or chain to the horns, head, or neck, is 
objectionable, as the tether is likely toget foul and 
prevent the animal from feeding, or inflict serious 
injury. If the tether be attached to the hind 
leg, using a broad leather band made for the 
purpose, the danger is very much diminished, 
and the restraint is soon quietly submitted to. 
—--^<s=- 
Barn-yards. 
Manure ought to be prepared and kept under 
cover, but there are very few farms where this 
can be done without a greater immediate outlay 
than can possibly be made. The majority of us 
must therefore be content for a while to keep 
the manure and make it in the open yard. If 
not content with this state of things, neverthe¬ 
less we must submit to it with all its losses and 
inconveniences, and do the best we can to avoid 
the'evils. The problem is, to make the greatest 
amount of good manure with the stock we 
keep. The shape of the barn-yard, both in re¬ 
gard to its ground plan and its surface, is of the 
greatest importance. The yard must, of course, 
be adjacent to one or more stables, and by far 
the most convenient arrangement is to have the 
barns or sheds used as stables on the whole of 
one side, and on parts of two others—for thus 
shelter is afforded to both stock and manure 
against prevailing winds, and the cattle have 
warm and sunny quarters, if the north, east, 
and west sides are thus closed. 
The yard must not receive any water except 
that which rains directly into it, and for this we 
must make provision, that in flowing away, 
it cannot carry valuable manure with it. The 
water from the eaves of the surrounding build¬ 
ings must be conducted off, and as evaporation 
under our summer sun is much in excess of the 
rainfall, it is well to have a portion of the wa¬ 
ter stored in cisterns, so that the manure heaps 
may never lack moisture should the natural sup¬ 
ply fail. The annual rainfall in the United 
States varies considerably in different portions, 
the total in New England averaging about 41 
inches; in New York, 36 inches; in the other 
Middle States, 40 1 | a ; in Ohio, 40; in the other 
Interior States, 30 to 40; in the Southern Stales, 
51; and, as a rule, the greater the rainfall the 
greater the evaporation. The great bulk of the 
rain, however, falls at a season when there is 
the least heat; hence there will inevitably be a 
great accumulation of water to be provided 
against during the winter and spring months. 
An inch of rain often falls during what would 
be called a hard shower, lasting two or three 
hours. Protracted storms lasting several days 
give often no greater results, while it requires a 
very hard rain to give two to three inches of 
water. Nevertheless storms probably occur every 
year in which this (3 inches) is exceeded. If 
one inch of rain falls in a barn-yard 60 x 60 feet, 
it will be equivalent to about 72 bbls. of 31 gal¬ 
lons each. A tank 8 x 10 feet, 4 feet high, will 
hold 77 bbls.; consequently such a tank, if empty 
or nearly so, would collect and save all the rain 
of a. pretty hard storm, falling in a 60 x 60 yard. 
We give herewith a cross section of a barn¬ 
yard, figure 1. It exhibits the yard from fence 
to fence, so arranged that no water can run in 
or out. The space next the fence or buildings 
all around is level or nearly so. The interior 
space has a slope of about one foot in fifteen 
towards the middle, where there is an 8 x 10 
tank laid in masonry, and covered with rails 
.and the manure pile. A simple pump is set in 
the tank to distribute 
the manure water over 
the heap, of which out¬ 
lines indicate the dif¬ 
ferent sizes it may 
have. Into this tank 
flows the urine from Fig. 2.—siphon. 
the stables and all 'the water which falls in¬ 
to the yard, and is not absorbed. The over¬ 
flow is provided for thus:—When the water 
reaches the top it flows out through the siphon, 
an enlarged view of which is given in figure 2. 
This takes the clear liquid below the floating 
straw, etc.,and above the sediment of the bottom; 
and the water is rapidly drawn off until its level 
reaches that of the outer end of the pipe (B), when 
air enters at that point, and the flow ceases, un¬ 
til the water again rises to the top. This over¬ 
flow may first run into a hogshead and afford a 
convenient supply for watering the garden, and, 
after this is full, flow off into a pit filled with 
muck or peat, through which it may soak into 
the ground leaving most of its valuable ingre¬ 
dients held fast by the peat for future use. 
To carry out a plan of this kind considerable 
expense would be necessary. The barn-yard 
would have to be graded carefully and made 
impervious to water, or nearly so. Were the 
water to flow from the tank into a part of the 
yard below the level of the top of the tank, and 
filled with muck, sods, peat, weeds, etc., the 
evaporation during most of the year would pre¬ 
vent any loss from the flooding of the yard ; 
but in winter it would probably overflow un¬ 
less the soil were sufficiently porous to let 
the water through. No harm would come of 
this if a sufficient bed of muck were present. 
When the tank is cover¬ 
ed by a well-made com¬ 
post heap, and this is 
kept constantly^ saturated 
with water, a very large 
quantity of water will 
evaporate, so that the 
farmer will be troubled 
by r a lack much oftener than by an excess of 
water in his yard. Even during the winter the 
heap being in a condition of constant fermenta¬ 
tion is always warm, if not hot, and a vast deal 
of water will be thrown off. If properly managed 
and the manure be allowed to get neither too 
dry nor to be drowned with water, manure 
making will go on with astonishing rapidity. 
A Field for our Agricultural Colleges. 
Colleges to make fanners are not popular in 
this country. Those which have been started 
and endowed with government grants have met 
with a very limited success. With two or tlmee 
exceptions they have not attracted pupils to any 
considerable extent, and appear to have made 
no impression upon the community of culti¬ 
vators. The farmers seem not to have any" ap¬ 
preciation of the privileges offered for their 
sons, and the professors have not hit upon the 
right methods of making scientific agriculture 
available for the masses. Farmers, as a rule,- 
read and think more than they did twenty 
years ago, but the great majority are still in 
doubt whether the business pays, and generally 
educate their children for other callings. Most 
of the pupils in our agricultural schools, we are 
informed, are not the sons of formers, and have 
no definite purpose to live by" the cultivation of 
the soil. Yet there is great need of a class of 
young men in this country which these colleges 
ought to furnish. In Europe there is a constant 
demand for intelligent foremen to manage large 
landed estates, and it is the aim of the agricul¬ 
tural schools established there to meet this de¬ 
mand. There is a call for such men here, 
but no one knows where to find them. They 
were needed upon the large cotton plantations 
of the South before the war, and the want 
was imperfectly met. Though knowing noth¬ 
ing of the science of cultivation, the over¬ 
seers did understand the rude methods of rais¬ 
ing cotton which prevailed there, and the 
driving of slaves, and were well paid for it. 
They" occupied an honorable position in the 
planter’s family, sat at his table, and, to a con¬ 
siderable extent, shared his social enjoyments. 
Though the introduction of free labor will make 
many small farmers, there will still be large 
plantations worked by superintendents or over¬ 
seers in the South fora long time to come. And 
at the North, as capital increases, we look for 
