Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1855-05-30
AGR&GUA
Left-handed Farmers.

1t is astonishing that so many left-hand-
cd people get into the business Of farming.
lhere seems To be more in this employment
than in any other. This must be the reason
why there is so much awkward and blunder-
ing work among farmers as a class, aud al.
80 the reason why farming, as business, is
in such bad repute, most people thinking
it ft employment only for clod-hoppers and
leaden.headed billiards, who dig all day,
and doze all the rest of their time.
If any one should question the assertion
that there are an immense number of left
handed persons in the business of farming,
let him look around him this,springwhile the
earliest operations on the farm are going on,
and he will see enough, we presume, to con-
vince him thoroughly that there are alto
gether more left handed people engaged in
this employment than there ought to be. If
you only know the marks and signs of being
left-handed, you cannot pass many farmers at
work before you will find one of these left
handed fellows. If, for example, you should
be going along the highway and should see
q man busy drawing out his manure after
the ground is dry enough to be ploughed, or
eHANdAihE ~ NhN III NluNo w JOu may NC
sure that that man is left. handed. A right
handed farmer, or one that does things ina
right way, has his manure heap, and all in
his yards, drawn out into the fields where it
Is to be used, before the time when ploWipg
should be going on is arrived. The right
handed farmer, moreover, never spreads the
manure he intends to pillow under, until the
day it is to be plowed in. In other words,
he gives the atmosphere no chance to rob
him, by carrying off to parts unknown some
of The most valuable portions of his manure
If he were to spread his manure days before
twas to be plowCd under, as his left. handed
neighbor does, the heat of even a spring day
would cause a large amount of ammonia t
exhale and be lost. Perhaps, indeed tn,
left-handed farmer may have allowed all, O.
nearly all, the ammonia and other valuabl
ingredients Of his manure heap to escap
before hauling it to the fields. If he ha
used nothing during the season of its CO.
lection to prevent such loss, the sun, an
rains, and Winds will have deprived hi
manure of Its most valuable properties. l
that case it may be spread at one time ju;
about as well as at another. 1t has alread
parted with its ammonia and all its MOI
valuable saline ingredients.
But I'll otherwise with the right.hande
farmer. He has, by means of shelter
absorbing materials mixed with his manur
preserved till needed, all its more valuab
properties. He has put pulverulent muc
or peat under shelter, and put a coating
this over his manure-heap frequently.
he has sprinkled on it a pretty liberal pc
ton, every now and then, of powder,
charcoal or plaster of Paris, or of a We
dilute solution of sulphuric acid, or of co
peras. All of these tend to absorb or !
tain the ammonia, which is the most val
able ingredient in common manures..
When he hauls out his manure into t
field, he also employs some of these ma
rails to preserve the newly exposed surfac
of the heaps from loss. He puts down !
manure in convenient sized heaps, and
proper distances apart and this is after
ed to before spring work begins to hurl
and then covers each of these heaps wi
muck, peat, charcoal, or plaster of Par
as above mentioned. If none of tn,