Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1878-03-13
Bedding to Save Liquids.

Professor Goessman, of the Massachusetts,
Agricultural College, and number of Ger
man agricultural chemists who have exper-
imented in the matter, state that con an
average the weight of dry straw required for
the absorption of the urine of farm stock is
about one.quarter of the weight of the dry
substance consumed as food" This being
the fact, cows requiring two tons of hay
each to winter would need half ton of
straw per head for bedding
We have no reason to doubt the correctness
of the above estimate, yet we are sure that
twice as much straw might be used for bed
ding without saving one-half the urine. In
order to absorb liquids, dry straw must have
time to soak them up and considerable time,
too. As scattered under cows in an ordinary
tie-up, with floor full of cracks and no
cellar beneath, we do not believe that any
amount of straw that can be put under cat
tie win save a quarter of their urine. In
such tie-up as this the only way to save
the urine is to have a perfectly tight plank
floor, Ga thing almost impossible in practice)
or to take up the floor entirely, and ce-
ment the bottom in dishing form Using
either of these ways the owner will be sur
prised at the quantity of absorbent material
required to take up the urine and give him
a dry floor. And if he follows out the
plan of thus thoroughly saving his liquid
manure he will be still more surprised at
the growth of his manure pile, and at the
growth of his crops when he comes to apply
it, There can be no possible doubt that
one-third of all the manural product of
our Vermont dairy cows is utterly wasted
and lost.
The editor of the Maine Farmer, himself
very thorough, practical man, says: Not
long ago one of our best and most thought
full young farmers gave us an account of his
method of making fertilzing material upon
his own farm, which is well worth repeating
here in brief He said that before he built
a new barn under which is a barn cellar, he
made about fifty ordinary ox-cart loads of
manure in year. And he was not wasteful
in the matter, but practiced the best econ
omy with the means at his command. A
year or two since he built new barn, hav-
ing a manure receptacle in the basement
and with Just about the same amount of
stock, he last spring hauled from his cellar
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY LOADS OF MA
NURE or about seventy-five cords, used on
the cultivated crops; and last fall 'scraped
up about the cellar THIRTY-NINE loads,
which was hauled to the fields where it will
be wanted early in spring"
In the instance above referred to muck
and roadside scrapings were used as absorb
ents, the kitchen and house Stops were all
saved the piggery deposits We're attended
to-the whole forming compost of rich
fertlizing material. During the summer
the cattle were housed every night, that then
weddings might be composted with muck
and every part of both solid and liquid pre-
vented from going to waste. This is the
way to farm economically; this is the
method all should adopt in order to keep ul
the fertility of their farms and avoid the
heavy expenses consequent upon purchasing
commercial manures In short, one of the
chief things in the farmers business should
be the business of MAKING AND SAVING rHE
HOME FERTILIZERS.
A very intelligent correspondent of the
Country Gentleman, thoroughly practical il
his farming, as we can vouch for writes
Many farmers, especially stock farmers, dc
not seem to realize that there is a grea
waste of valuable material daily going OF
around their premises, which their run-ou
fields are sadly in need of.
"The greatest waste of manure from the
farm comes from neglect to save the liquiC
weddings of the farm stock. Far too many
farmers allow all this, or nearly all, to be
total loss during the time the stock is housed
at the barn. Wolff gives the following com
parsons in one thousand parts of liquid
and solids