358 
other matters ; the precipitate was then collected and dried, and so used. 
The manure sold as urate is said to be manufactured in this manner. 
Considerable fertilizing matters, however, remain in the liquid when 
these precipitates are used, besides they are not easily procured here, 
and their use would be attended with too much expense. What, then, 
is the cheapest and most efficient mode of preserving manure, adapted 
to our circumstances ? This point should be considered when erecting 
farm buildings. Barns may be so constructed as to have cellars under¬ 
neath, in which the manure may be deposited, and thus preserved from 
the damaging influence of the sun and rain. Where cellars cannot be 
conveniently had, stables and sheds may be so arranged as to afford 
considerable protection to the manure. On a small farm, for instance, 
where few cattle are kept, the horse-stable may run north and south, 
having a trap-door at the north end to throw out the litter ; the cattle 
yard may be on the east side, and the shed or stable may join up to the 
north-east corner of the horse-stable, and have a small door at the west 
end, to throw out the manure. The manure from th’e two stables would be 
thus mixed together, and the buildings would protect it to a considerable 
extent from the morning and mid-day sun. To protect it from the rain, 
a crotch might be fixed in the corner of the north-west angle, a pole to 
rest on this and on the north-west corner of the cattle-shed, a few rough, 
slabs or boards of lumber, or two or three loads of straw or damaged 
hay, would suffice to keep the rain from falling on the manure in quan¬ 
tities sufficient to wash it. A few logs should be raised on the two open 
sides of the space where-the manure is deposited, to prevent hogs from 
spreading it abroad. To preserve the urine of our animals some ab¬ 
sorbent material should be provided ; for this purpose there is nothing 
to be had in this section of the State comparable to the black vegetable 
matter found at the edges of our marshes and swamps, commonly known 
as muck. This may be dug in the dry time, which usually occurs in 
the fall, after harvest and seed-time, and should be allowed to dry before 
it is handled, to save labor and to add to its usefulness ; for the dryer it 
is, the more urine it will be capable of absorbing. At the very dawn 
of the improvement of British agriculture, a Scotch farmer, Lord 
Meadowbank, insisted on the importance of increasing the amount and 
value of the manure raised on a farm, by mixing farm-yard dung ini 
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