Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-06-22

OF all the leaks on the farm, and they are
many, no other is equal in extent or in it's
evil results to the waste of manure. 1t is
| impossible to make any just estimate of the
magnitude of the loss in fertilizers which is
sustained on a majority of farms. The mat
ter is of serious consequence, for it involves
partial Il SIS of the results of farm labor ;
often amounting to all or more than the
whole profit, which might have been realized
in the cultivation of crops had enough
manure been used. The laDor required for
the cultivation of poor crops is fully equal
to that which must be expended on good ones.
and the cost of harvesting is often nearly or
quite "a heavy; and the farmer. after a sum
mer of excessive toll finds himself poorer
than when the year began, and feels that had
be set with folded hands he would be as well
off as now.
| 1t is evident to any farmer that heavy
crops are profitable, even in these hard times
| Tor farmers and that the farmer whose crops
are all large. makes money; though his
profits are necessarily smaller at present
than in times when prosperity rewards the
| la bors of the farmer ON every hand.
1t is equally certain that every farmer may
raise large crlps. This has been demonstra-
ted again az again by farmers who have ia
ken The most urpromis ng land, and by skill
full cultivation made it very productive, and
without heavy expenditures, making the
farm pay it's own way.
The first leak to be stopped is the waste Of
manure. Now is the time to begin 10 take
care of the accumulations of the summer
Most farmers yard the cows at night, allow
ing them to lie in the open air. The man
ure accumulates in the yard, remaining there
Through the Summer, exposed to the action
OF the elements which wear away even the
granite boulders. The rain pours on it, leech-
ing through it, and carry away nearly all
the soluble parts of value, and deposits them
in roadside CRITTERS or in running streams
The sun and winds bleach it, libeIating the
volatile portions to faint the atmosphere
which surrounds the dwelling
No farmer can be truly prosperous who
allows the fertilizers produced on the farm
to be wasted
Absorbents should be supplied to receive
and hold all the liquid excrement. Dried
muck, sand, loan, clay or decayed turf.
straw or forest leaves or other substances,
according to the nature of the soil, and suit
ed to the purpose. If the COWS are tied up
in the barn at night, the trenches should be
f led with absorbents. If permitted to lie
IN the yard there should be generous coat
ing there and the accumulations of each
night should be gathered every morning and
placed under shelter. 1t would be still bet
ter to have the cows lie in sheds, well strown
with muck ETC., thus saving the labor Of
gathering every morning.
The horses and swine should also be kept
at work increasing the pile, none being
wasted.
1t has been asserted many times by the e
who have taken the necessary pains to util-
Ize it, and by chemists, that the liquid ex-
crements from farm stock are equal in value
To the solids. The management of many
4 hat ba d. hsfa
lilly all wasted and lost, together with
large per cent. of the solids, by their deter
loratlOn from exposure 1t would be a very
moderate estimate of the loss en- the latter
to put 1t ia, at % per cent Il is also Eell
cow dung for instance, may be doubled by
composing with muck. Here is loss of 70
pr cent, 10 the value of manure not housed
or compUsted, nearly four-ffths of the value
f the manure gone before it is hauled from
the yard.
This conclusion is not the result of guess
work, SO much used in agricultural estimates
Each of the premises from which it is drawn
have been proved by practical tests.
The farmer may buy bone manures, plas-
tel and ashes, and wear out his str 9Th in
laying drains and Graduating stumps and
stones, but while there is a loss of 7S per
cent. Of the barn yard manures he will toll
IN vain.
There are many farms where some partial
shelter is aft ,rded for manures, and this per
crntage of loss is reduced to some extent
On how many farms in Vermont is the loes
all, Ut mainly avoided? The cost of sheds,
il the barns are not provided with cellars, is
light compared with the value of the manure
saved. There is work in taking care of man
ure, but it is a kind of work that pays bet
ter than any other that is done on the farm.
We have menti med the subject of fertil-
lzers frequently and shall do SO in the future
n 1t is the QUESTION that underIies all 9TH
ere.