Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1839-12-18
ed into every lane and by-corner of our
country. Yours, truly, w. B.
Mount Osceola, Nov. A, 1889.
From the New England Farmer.
MATERIALS FOR MANURE.

| ton to call the attention OF farmers TO i
subject which we have so often and strong
/ lv urged upon them, as that of increasing
their manure heap by the collection of
every material to which they@ca have /
access. Bat we shall continue to do it on !
every occasion when we are likely to get !
a hearing. A continual dropping will
wear away s,one-l and possibly we may
make impression at last upon some minds !
that are perhaps little softer than gran
/ lie.
Until the snow comes and the frost |
completely Jocks up the ground, materi- |
ais may be found in all directions and on {
every farm. which will amply repay the
labor of collection and labor at this sea
son can be more easily obtained than in
many other cases. We are continually !
struck with this fact in our tours through !
the country and do not admit that our
farmers ought TO be satisfied until they are
as frugal and saving and parsimonious as
the Chinese.
! By way of illustration we will try to
recollcct few things which met our OBJ
servation recently, we shall not say where,
on what road or in what neiohborhood,
lest we might sour the milk of some of
our GOOD friends.
We passed in the first place a grove or
forest with the ground covered with fall
en- leaves and rotten wood Why might
not these have been collected and being
deposited under cover, furnish fine mass
of excellent litter for the COW and the
horse stables, and the sheep yards through
the winter, from which after being sur
charged with the liquids from the barn,
they may be applied to the cultivated
lands with no small advantages? These
woods were at the border of an extensive
pasture, covered with brakes, and sweet
fern and bushes; why should not all
J these be cut down and conveyed 10 The
. manure yard, where they would soon de-
cay and 60 into the general receptacle
At one corner of the pasture there we
| found bog hole full Of deep black mud,
and the borders of which had been en-
: riched for long time by the droppings of
5 the cattle who had been accustomed to re-
| sort there for water Here, said we to
| ourselves at once is an abundant resource,
; a mine of wealth which cannot be ex-
hausted for years, but which the farmer
, had hardly dreampt Of. As we returned
TO the road we passed the remains of the
t carcass Of dead horse and the bones Of
two or three sheep which had died of neg
: lect and starvation the preceding winter.
) There they lay bleached by the rains and
5 winds Why should they not now be
collected, broken by a sledge hammer and
5 used upon the land; or rather why should
: they not at first Immediately after death,
E have been covered so as to avoid poison
: ing the air with their offensive oders -
and so that ammoniacal gases might have
. been collected in the soil and thus be saw
e ed for the aid of vegetation and indeed
/, so that the whole mass might be reduced
e 10 condition, in which it would furnish
Q a most enrlchlng manure. In its present
/ condition it was worth nothing. Near
il the bars at the road side, there was the
It site OF an old house, with the cellar walls
S remaining, part of the chimney standing,
+ ana piles Of rubbish, mortar, burnt clay,
ashes, chips and innumerab,e unmeEtion-
!, abIes, the undlSturbed Accommodations of
! years, the growth of the thisiies, and
! hemock and thorn apple, and barn grass
}, upon which demonstrated the richness
/. which was underneath Why was all
. this neglected !: and why was this monu-
ment OF slovenlness and sluggardIiness
; suffered to remain there year after year,
! an offence 10 every decent traveller and
! an inexcusable disgrace to its owaer, who
i was probably too much il a hurry 10 get
: to the shop or the tavern when he went
from home, to find time to remove it: and
! when he returned was not generally in
condition to see whether it vas there or
not.
, We had not gone fir, when ne met the
, whole troop Of bristled and long -snouted
) quadrupeds of this capital farmer in full
, chase in the road, running almost as vio-
! lentlY, as herd Of old mother, grandpa
pa. and as many young ones as stood
round the stake Of the great English mar
: tyr at Sinithfield. Here they were, lean
: and ravenous as wolves. As for any tno't
Of yardng them, Iiltering them, and max
ing each OF them pay regularly for his
: board by the manure which he would
. make and compounj-this was a sort of
book farming which this skiIful gentle
/ man utterly disdained. AS we came near
he house, here was pile of chips, which
+ had never been turned over though thor
. oughly rotten at bottom, and though at
5 least ten loads of fine manure might have
y been taken from under them. The front
50 yard too was ornamented with the drop
81 pings of the cows, WAC wee accustomed
9 10 come almost into the entry of the house
to be MIXED and to lay in the road at
J. night because it was rather too much
lie trouble to yard them at the barn, as The
], bars had not only to be taken down but