The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-02-13
y;mke 4arnt.
DRY EARTH FOR STABLE FLOORS.

AMERICAN AGRIcULTURIsT, by the au-
thor of Walks and Talks on the Farm"
Mr. Harriss, in the February number
of that superior agricultural publica-
ton, says:
l have just got home from short
visit to Massachusetts, and the Deacon
came up to have talk, 4" / wish you
had been with me, Deacon" | said
Several people, whom | had never
seen before, asked, .How's the Dea-
CON-" As | was going from Albany
to Westfeld, sat in the same seat with
an intelligent, farmer-looking man.
We talked little about the weather,
and looked through the window a good
deal Finally some agricultural topic
was alluded to, and he asked if | was
a farmer and where | was from ?
"Whv," he exclaimed can this be
Walks and Talks 2" | could not deny
it. "Give me your hand" said he,
"and how is the Deacon" 1t was I.
S. Gold, Secretary of the Conn. State
Beard of Agriculture, and we talked
lively during the rest of the journey.
| visited three or four of the most
celebrated farms in Massachusetts. 1t
is very different farming from ours. ]
saw no straw stacks and no sheep
Hay and milk are the chief products on
the farms | visited. Corn fodder on
one farm is raised extensively, and on
another oats are grown and cut soon
after the grain is formed and made into
hay. The land was seeded down with
this crop, and never saw better
catch 1t seemed to be quite common,
too, to fallow field and then seed it
down with timothy and clover in the
Autumn without any other crop. This
is pet recommendation of my own,
and | was glad to hear that it worked
admirably
would give good deal for one of
these Massachusetts barns-that is, if
/ had money enough, l would give, say
one-third to one-half what they. cost.
l could use them to great advantage.
One barn, built by the former owner of
the farm. at cost probably little less
than what he afterwards sold the farm
for, was about 120 feet long and 40 feet
wide-the barn-foor running through
the center, the long way of the barn.
There was an ell to this main barn,
about so feet long and perhaps SO feet
wide. 1t was occupied by two rows
of cows, facing wide passage in the
center, and there were several loose
boxes for calves, and for cows about to
calve. The arrangements were excel
lent. This is magnificent" said |, "but
what is the use of this wide passage
between the cows. 1t seems great
waste of room. p" That is horrible
heresy here" replied my friend.-But
he gave me no satisfactory reason. I'm
derneath the whole of this large barn is
splendid cellar 1t is dry, warm, well
lighted, and well ventilated. If | had
such cellar, l think could find ample
room in it, with open yards attached,
for flock of over two hundred long
wool sheep, fifty or more head of cattle,
one hundred or more pigs, a stable for
all my horses, and cellar capable of
holding 10000 bushels of roots. All
this room is sacrificed at any rate to
great extent, apparently for no other
reason but to secure MANURE CELLAR
The advantages of this system of hand
ling manure must be very great. to pay
for suck a large and costly receptacle.
One-ffth of the room would be suffi-
Gent to hold all the manure for six
months, and the labor of putting the
manure into barrow and wheeling it
to one end of the building and dumping
it into the cellar, would not be much
more than opening and shutting so
many trap-doors behind the animals
got several capital ideas from my
short visit one of which | have
adopted since l came back. l always
knew it was a good plan, but there is
nothing like seeing the thing carried
out on an extensive scale in practice
When came home, said to my men,
" You recollect these three gentlemen
who were here during the State Fair.
They live near Boston, and | have just
been to see their farms And | wish
you could see them too. | do not think
l ever saw more active, enterprising,
and intelligent farmers in this or any
other country. One of them keeps 200
pigs, and | was on another where $50
were kept" We've got pretty near
as many" said Willie" Yes, but do
you see yonder big straw stack" | re-
piled. Big as it looks, we shall have
to be very saving of it, or we shall he
short of bedding before next harvest.
Now, these gentlemen do not have one
tenth as much straw, and yet they
manage to keep their COW. stables and
pig pens as clean as we do, and let none
of the liquid run to $50 Per-
ehaps," suggested Willie, " they use
corn-stalks, or potato tops, or horse lit
ter, or" = after little whispered
prompting from the Deacon or dried
muck from the swamp" No. re-
piled, 4" it is something that we have
plenty Of There are loads of it close
at hand. - know what it is said
Charley; IT'S DIRT" >" Charley has
guessed it," said "In the Summer
they draw quantity of dry earth from
the roads, or from anywhere convent
ent, and store it up in the barn ready
for use. And every day they scatter
few shovelfuls of this dry dirt about
the pens and stables. And now" |
continued, right under that barn,
where we are making the new cellar, is
all the dry dirt we need. Fill that
empty pig-pen with it, and use as much
Of it every day as you want in the COW
stable and in the pig-pens to keep them
dry and sweet. Scatter a little of it on
at time You will find wheebarrow-
full will go good way"
The same able writer discusses, in
the same paper, the subject of substi-
tuting cheap corn as fertilizer instead
of costly commercial manures, which
has began to be considered by inteli-
gent farmers of the Atlantic States.
| am trying to persuade the Squire
and the Deacon to join with me in
ordering ten tons of superphosphate
and ten tons Of nitrate of soda. We