Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-11-12
Homemade Manures.

MI. Alexander Hyue, IN lne new lorK
Times, in reply to a correspondent who
wishes to know how to increase his stock
of home made fertilizers, treats the subject
very sansibly, we think. Especially should
the hin's be needed which are given in the
Irshwoman's management of her pig pen.
We believe too little attention has been
paid by us farmers to the pig as manu-
faciurer of fertilizers. If the requisite
amount of proper material be furnished,
we believe each pig kept will pay fair
profit even when the carcass sold no more
than pays for his feed:
If any farmer wants "plenty of manure"
the first thing is to keep plenty of stock to
consume all the coarse products of the
farm. As Judge Buel used to put it,
" The more stock the more manure, the
more manure the larger crops, and with
larger crops come more stock" 1t is
little difficult, som etimes, to see how it is
going to pay to put all the hay, grain and
roots into the mouths of cattle, sheep and
swine. Figuring up the cash value of
these products, and their result is beef,
butter, wool and pork, and the balance is
o(tener in favor of selling than feeding.
But figures sometimes lie, though the
proverb says they do not. The mistake
in these calculations is that the manure is
not taken into account or, if taken in, is
not credited with its full value. An Irish
woman once asked us to let her have two
tons of hay to keep her cow through the
winter. AS hay was high, we advised her
to sell her COW and buy again in the spring,
saying, at will cost you about as much
to winter your COW as to buy another, and
if you self you'll have her present value
as so much clear profit" MAY be So"
was her reply, but where shall | get my
manure next spring to raise my praties
and cabbage? My childer live on milk
and praties, and the cow supplies both
these. You may be right, sir; but l know
we should starve without the cow We
gave it up. The practical wisdom was
better than our figuring. We had left the
manure out of our calculations. With
zen dollars-the price of five loads, q
round allowance for the manure of one
low the figures would still often show Il
'roiit in selling stock in the fall and buy
ing again in the spring, but we advise no
man to pursue this course. If he does
not starve in consequence of it, his farm
will. Look at the farms that are most
productive, and the farmers that are most
prosperous, and you'll almost invariably
lind that these farms carry large stocks.
The manure from this stock, rightly
handled, is the secret of the fertility and
prosperity. Some farmers make thrfefold
more manure from the same stock than do
Ithers. We learned lesson on this point
rom the practice OF the IriShwoman to
whom we have alluded After our con-
versation with her, we felt an interest to
earn how she managed her little estate,
ind found that in the fall she put her
hildren to gathering all the leaves in the
'elghborhood With these her COW and
'ig-all the stock she had-were well
oed,led during the winter, and in the
'pring her pile of manure looked about as
large as that of some farmers who keep
nalf q dozen cows, and other stock in pro-
Iortion. Then she had thrown good
many sods into her pen during the summer
for the3pig to nibble upon and work over,
md these, when well saturated, had been
thrown out to swell the pile; but when,
early in the spring, her manure was SHOW
eled over and laid up in an inverted,
dripping pan. shaped, compact heap, we
noticed that the sods had crumbled into
fine mould, and the leaves had evidently
been heated and partially decomposed.
The compost of ten or a dozen loads was
not the "pure quill" but it was fourfold
in bulk and threefold in value of what it
would have been without the addition of
caves and sods. 1t certainly produced an
immense yield of potatoes, and some
'talwart heads of cabbage. The latter
vegetable is about rs good test of the
virtue of manure as is the chemists lab
oratory. We have heretofore alluded in
the Times to this practice of the Irish
woman, but it furnishes so good an answer
10 our correspondents inquiry, how TO
| increase his stock of home made manure, ="
hat we refer to it again, and it may hit
the case of some others who are inquiring
in the same drection.H