Huntsville gazette., 1884-03-01
Barn-Yard Economy.

A dark stream, often of golden color,
always of golden value, flows to waste
from many an American barn yard.
This liquid fertility oftan enters the side
Il tch of the tarm lane. sometimes of the
highway, and empties into a brook,
which removes it beyond the reach of
plants that would greatly profit by it.
Mice may gnaw a hole into the granarv
and daily abstract a small quaint ty of
ain, or skunks may reduce the profits
of tie poultry yards, but these leaks are
small in mparison with that from the
poorly constructed and ill-kept barn
yard. The most valuable part of man.
ure is that which S very soluble, and
unless it is retained by some absorbent.
or kept from the drenchng rains. it will
be quickly out of reach. Manure is a
manufactured product, and the success
of all farm operations in the older
States, depends upon the quantity and
quality of this product. Other things
being equal, the farmer who comes out
in the spring with the largest amount
of tie best quality of manure, will be
the one who finds farming pays the
best. A barn-yard, whether on a side
hill or on 'evei, with all the IA MS free
to fall upon the manure heap, should be
so arranged as to lose none of the drain
age. Side-hill barn-yards are common,
because the barns thus located furnish
a convenient cellar. A barrier of earth
on the lower side of the yard can be
quickly thrown up with team and
road scraper, which win catch and hold
the drenchings of the yard above, and
the coarse, newly made manure will
absorb the liquid and be benefited by it.
1t would be better to have the manure
made and kept under cover, always
well protected from rams and melting
SHOWS. Only enough moisture should
he present to keep it from fermenting
too rapidly. An old farmer who let his
manure take care of itself, once kept
some of lis sheep under cover and was
greatly surprised at the increased value
of the manure thus made In fact. it
was so ''st ong" that when scattered as
tht xiv as the leached dung of the yard.
it made a distinct belt of better grain in
the field. The testimony was so much
in favor of the s.ali-made manure, that
this farmer is now keeping all his live
stock under cove-, and tle farm is Weld
ing larger crops and growing richer
year hy year. Ii it pays to stop any
leak in the granery, it is all the more
important to look well to the manure
that furnishes the food, that feeds the
plants, that grow the grain, that fills
the grain bin. At this season the living
mills are all grinding the hay and grain
and yield ne the by-products of the
manure heap. Much may be saved in
spring work by letting this heap be as
small as outdoor yard feeding and the
winds and rains can make it, but such
saving is like that of the economic
sportsman who went out with the idea
of using as little powder and lead as
possible. In farming, grow the largest
possible crops, even though it takes a
week or more of steady hard work to
get the rich, heavy, well-prepared man
ure upon the fields. More than this,
enrich the land by throwing every
stream of fertility back upon the acres
which have yielded it. Watch the man
ure heap as you would a mine of gold.
Amer. can Aqriculturist.