The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-06-19
Management of Yard Manure.

Is manure in the heap better for be-
ing covered by a roof? VIII it pay to
build open sheds to put it under, boards
costing $25 per thousand E? Will it pay
to use super-sulphate of soda at $18 or
plaster at $15 per ton to fix the ammo
MA on ? Is there any other substance
that can be used to advantage and not
too costly Pc. Thompson, jefferson
County, ". Y.
Answer 1t is, of course, a great
damage to manure to drench and leach
it with excess of water, and then to dry
it out to a snuffy consistence by expo
sure to hot sun and it is especially bad
to allow these processes to succeed
each other repeatedly. If building
sheds were the only or the most easy
mode of avoiding this damage it would
undoubtedly be in order to put them
up. But there is a more excellent way,
and it is doubtless better to spend
money in preparing a good bottom for
the manure heaps than to lay it out in
roofing. The dUng-yard should have,
first, bottom nearly impenetrable to
water. IF the soil is a clay or clay
loan that is sufficient, but if gravelly
or coarse sandy, it should be clayed, or
or be foored with flags or paving stones
cemented with clay. Second, the floor
should be made dishing, SO that all the
rain-water falling upon it shall remain,
and, third, the ground should incline
away from it so that rain falling outside
shall not flow in. Fourth, it is good to
have a water-tight pit, or better, a Gov
cred cistern near the center, which will
hold all the water that may drain from
the manure. Fifth, it is we'll to have a
stone wall laid in cement, some four or
five feet high, inclosing q rectangle of
so much space as the heaps require,
with a passage at either end for teams
/ In this yard the manure can be laid
| to final depth of six or eight feet if
needful the rain, however copious, can
! quantities of rough vegetable matter,
muck, straw, weeds, saw dust, etc., may
| be interstratified for compost; hot
horse manure and cold hog manure or
/ cow-dung may be intermixed, or hot
horse and bullock dur G may be diluted
with an inch or two of loan for every
! foot of dung. The contents of the els
/ tern should be frequently pumped up
| (twice each week. and applied to all the
/ surface in quantity sufficient to main
/ tain a uniform moistness, but not
enough to keep the mass saturated. If
/ the DRAWINGS be not enough, water
should be supplied in proper quantity.
! The surface shauld be kept level and
moderately compact. Finally, when
| the manure has accumulated to the full
depth, or the supply ceases, the surface
| is covered with few inches of lOamy
or mucky earth, which is perfect pro-
! lection against loss by evaporation.
! Under this cover, the uniform and well
moistened but not wet mass will fer
ment enough to break up the fiber of
the litter, destroy seeds, and yield a
| perfect manure. ANY addition of gyp-
sum or sulphate of soda will not be
needed to fix ammonia, for with this
/ treatment there will be no loss worth
mention. If some hundred weight OF
/ gypsum and also of fine Charleston OF
| Navassa phosphate rock and of German
/ potash salts or wood ashes be uniformly
/ intermixed, "a the manure accumulates,
] it will be so much the richer and more
/ valuable for these additions.
! Before commencing TO carry the
manure into such a yard, a we'll trodden
/ layer of straw, coarse grass, flax, or
similar vegetable matter, or of peat,
/ swamp tussocks and the like, two feet In
| depth, may be put in as a foundation.
| The dung liquor will convert it into ex-
cellent manure. If manure that is
made under cover or bought for use is
to be heaped for a mild fermentation,
or to be kept against the time Of its
use, it may be thrown up in windrow-
like heaps four feet, and as broad at the
base, and be simply covered with any
road scrapings, or any fine soil which,
made into mud with water, hardens on
drying to a crust which will shed rain.
Calcareous mud is of this quality, and
a little lime mixed with loan will give
the proper Observation-Disclosures.