The Opelousas courier., 1890-02-15
1AtE--
TIE MANURE QUESTION.

"What is to be done with the manure
in the winter2" Our practice was to
clean the stables once a day, draw the
manure direct to the field six days a
week, and dump in piles where it re,
manned till spring, when it is spread and
Immediately plowed under. There is
n objection to this; sometimes the land
will be in condition to plow excepting
fhese piles, where it will be frozen too
solid to admit of blowing. A CORE
.pondent of the Germantown penny
Telegraph gives his way of making and
spreading MANURE as follows,
Ny horse and cow stables have double
doors and the space behind the animals
is wide enough to admit of a cart to take
BUT the manure. | prefer not to clean
,ut the stables oftener than twice a
week, but if the COW manure is very
loft l clean them out every day, or every
second day, according to the circum-
stance of having an abundance OF scar
city of litter. After the manure is put
n the channel behind the cows, it is
carefully baled out and poured on top of
The load OF manure, and by the time it
reaches the field the liquid is trickling
On the ground, but not much is lost. The
dripping manure is then drawn out of
The tail end of the cart and deposited IN
ONE half dozen heaps with a dung drag,
md Immediately spread. The land thus
receives all the virtue that is in the ma
aure, which sinks down in the ground,
md o nj of the GASEOUS matter escapes
ap in the clouds" After the essence of
the manure has all stink in the ground,
the straw remains on the surface as a
mulch, which is an effective agency to
Improve land. By this method of manur-
ing I get my corn ground covered during
the fall and winter, thus avoid hav-
ing the leached carcass from the barn
yard saturated with water, and dragged
out through the mud in the spring at a
busy time. While manuring my field in
winter l keep the manure spread in a
straight line, and put up guide poles at
each end of the line so that if snow falls
[ will know where to spread the
[ find by experience that manure and
snow when in partnership make a strong
fertilizing firm, which, when dissolved
by the sun, shows quite as good a result
in the following crop as any other mode
of applying manure.
For more than thirty years l have tied
my cows in the stable every night in
summer just the same as in winter, with
out any detriment to a single animal.
My object in doing this is two-fold.
First, I make an extra quantity of ma
nure; second, my cattle are in safe place,
which relieves me from care and anxiety,
consequently l can sleep soundly. Dur
ing the winter my horned stock have
only a couple of hours each day out in
the yard-just long enough to eat their
mess Of corr stalks and get a drink.
Cows when used to being stabbed dislike
to stay long out in the cold, and evince
great alacrity to get indoors where it is
warm and comfortable. My procedure
in manipulating manure by handling it
only once and placing it where none of
its virtues can be lost, I think is much
better than the old-fashioned way with
the wheelbarrow, taking the in
the barnyard to lay in the d%renching
rain till spring, then to be handled again,
being soggy and heavy, with the ammo
nia pretty much p%recolated through 1t
and lost. Oftentimes it is not onven
lent to apply the manure in some corner
Of the field wherein it is to be Spread.