Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1867-08-08
FARM AND GARDEN.
Prenare HTanures-Compost.


All spare time during this-as indeed
during all months, should be employed in
preparing manures; for upon continuous
and well directed labor, and upon the
liberal use of manures, farming success
is more dependent than upon all things
else With good seasons the result viii
be inevitable and the disadvantages Of
bad season WILDE, to great extent coun-
teracted by them. 1t should be a gene
raj practice with farmers to gather up all
thesOds, weeds, and even the year sgrowth
Of briars, bushes, etc, and stack them IN
large compact heaps, there to remain for
from one to two years, or until they be-
come properly deeomposed and resolved
into one mass 1t would take but little
time TO gather these, while in doing so
the fields would be cleared Of this trash,
which If left to remain, obstructs the
growth Of plants and encourages the in
crease Of these drawbacks to growing
crops The manure which ought to be
produced on a farm Of an hundred acres
by this process, would hardly be believed
until properly put in operation. But we
) can say in advance that there ought to be
realized, at the lowest calculation, one
cart load per acre This substance is ex-
tremely valuable for gardens, and es-
pecially for corn, as well as for soils Of
heavy and tenacious character.
A correspondent Of the Germantown
Telegraph gives the following advice on
thissubject
ID majority of farmers do not attach
Importance enough 10 the subject Of saving
and making manure, and labor are what
capital and credit are 10 be the merchant.
They think they cannot afford to pay five
and six dollars per cord for manure, and il
does seem high price; but one thing they
can do; they can take better care Of what
they have, and prevent the waste of what
is the most valuable part. Many hog pens
are built on sloping ground, the manure
sinking away 10 some drain and lost. Now,
with proper care, the manure Of every hog
raised and fattened is worth twenty dollars
20 put in corn hills. 1t is better not TO let
hogs Wallow in the manure as most of farm
ers do, with the view that the hogs will work
fine the coarse trash generally thrown into
the pen. Make tight board floor to the
pen 20 prevent the leakage of the urine and
manare, then throw in the absorbents, such
as weeds, straw, shavings, saw-dust, leaves,
chip dirt, briers, and almost fine hickory
brush, clean the sty out once a week, and
throT the manure into a square pile, ex
posed 10 all the rain that falls, and in a dry
time keep the manure moist by the adj
dition of water, or cover with damp earth
70 prevent the blue blazes" BY this ar
rangement, with ten hogs and plenty of
material, a farmer will make nearly two
hundred dollars worth of manure ready
for the land in good condition, and have
better hogs than if he allowed them TO
wallow at pleasure in the mess"
While advising the preparation Of ma
nure by composing, we are by no means
insonsible to the fact that unfcrmented
manures are Justly regarded as the most
valuable
There is no laboratory so suitable and
economical for its decomposition, as the
soil to which it is applied. Manure
should never be exposed to the influence
Of rain until it is distributed upon the
land BY such exposure, its most valu'
able salts, being soluble in water are dis
solved, and either carried away with the
surface water, OF descend into The earth
below In proof of this, we need only
notice the effect, where heap Of manure
has lain during several rains. The yisi-
bic portions of the manure may be en-
tirely removed from that part of the field,
vet the succeeding crops viii show clear
ly that larger portion of its value was
leached cut, and carried into the soil be
low, than was applied to any other part
Of the field Another reason for the use
of unfermented manure, is its mechanical
action upon the soil Experience teaches
that the decomposition of manure in the
soil imparts a genial warmth and renders
it more susceptible to the salutary infu-
ence of the sun and rain.