Talks on Manures: A Series of Familiar and Practical Talks Between the Author and the Deacon, the Doctor, and Other Neighbors, on the Whole SubjectHarris, Joseph
Science
Talks on Manures: A Series of Familiar and Practical Talks Between the Author and the Deacon, the Doctor, and Other Neighbors, on the Whole Subject
Harris, Joseph
Fertilizers; Manures
3d. To use sufficient bedding to absorb all the urine in the stable. In
my own case, as I have said before, we usually chaff all our straw and
stalks. The orts are used for bedding, and we also use a little dry
earth--or, to be more exact, I use it when I attend to the matter
myself, but have always found more or less trouble in getting the work
done properly, unless I give it personal attention. To use “dirt” to
keep the stable clean, is not a popular plan in this neighborhood. Where
there is an abundance of straw, and especially if cut into chaff, the
easiest way to keep the stable clean, and the cows comfortable, is to
use enough of this chaffed straw to absorb all the liquid. Clean out the
stable twice a day, and wheel the manure directly to the heap, and
spread it.
In regard to the application of manure on a dairy-farm, we have seen
what Harris Lewis does with his. I also wrote to T. L. Harison, Esq.,
of St. Lawrence Co., N.Y.; and knowing that he is not only a very
intelligent farmer and breeder, but also one of our best agricultural
writers, I asked him if he had written anything on the subject of
manures.
“St. Lawrence Co.,” said the Deacon, “produces capital grass, oats, and
barley, but is, I should think, too far north for winter wheat; but what
did Mr Harison say?”--Here is his letter:
“I never wrote anything about manure. Catch me at it! Nor do I know
anything about the management of barn-yard manure worth telling. My own
practice is dictated quite as much by convenience as by considerations
of economy.”
“Good,” said the Deacon; “he writes like a sensible man.”
“My rotation,” he continues, “is such that the bulk of the manure made
is applied to _one crop_; that is, to my hoed crops, corn, potatoes, and
roots, in the second year.
“The manure from the stables is thrown or wheeled out under the sheds
adjoining, and as fast as it becomes so large a quantity as to be in the
way, or whenever there is an opportunity, it is hauled out to the field,
where it is to be used, and put in large piles. It is turned once, if
possible, in the spring, and then spread.
“The quantity applied, is, as near as may be, 25 loads per acre; but as
we use a great deal of straw, we haul out 30 loads, and estimate that in
the spring it will be about 25 loads.
“If we have any more (and occasionally we have 100 loads over), we pile
it near the barn, and turn it once or twice during the summer, and use
it as seems most profitable--sometimes to top-dress an old grass-field,
that for some reason we prefer not to break for another year. Sometimes
it goes on a piece of fall wheat, and sometimes is kept over for a
barley field the following spring, and harrowed in just before sowing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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