SAVING MANURE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 131, 5 June 1877, Page 4

SAVING MANURE.

The practice of manuring the ground, and so returning tojthe soil & quid pro quo for the nutriment taken out of it by the crops raised, is one that in Nelson is honored more in the breach than in the observance, as some of |our farmers know to their cost. The following extract from the Weekly News ia to a considerable extent applicable to this district, and we therefore offer no apology for reprinting it :— "The winter months are usually tbe period when farmers pay attention to the manure heap. During the cold wet nights working horses are stabled, and fed on hay or chaff. Milking cows are 'plaited in sheds, and have the necessary supply of fodder. Pigs are shut op, and dry beds provided for them, and from all these animals, by attention end care, a large amount of manure may be obtained. It is always an important question with the farmer how the neaeaaary quantities of fertilisers may be procured. He must have them if he is to grow crops successfully, and if he cannot get sufficient from the stockyard, .the stable, and the pigstye, he ie bound to put his band into his pocket and purchase bones or guano. It cannot be doubted that on the part of some farmers an extraordinary degree of ctfretesaneas exists in regard to both the saving and the keeping of manure. The amount that is lost year after year is something marvellous. Valuable liquid manure ia allowed to be washed away. The droppings of animals that without much trouble might be gathered and placed on the heap, are left to be entirely wasted. Now by a little attention to this very important matter, means could be obtained to enrich a very large extent of land to |grow an increased amount of fodder, and thus to feed much more stock. Covered sheds are admitted to be in every way superior for the preservation ot manure, but not many farmers are provided with such conveniences. The next best thing to do ia t to pile up the heap as high as possible, and make it so that it will turn some of the rain. The following remarks fi 6m the Scientific American are worthy the attention and perusal of all farmers : — • The ordinary management of manure in open barn yards where it is washed by rains, dried by the sun^s scorohing heat, and wasted by every wind that blows, is the worst that is possible. In this way half or more of the value of the manure is lost. B X: fi g Q « n g »P what it would cost to purchase a quantity of manore equal to What is thus lost, the costliness of this common method would be discovered, and the question how much could be afforded to take care of the manure would be settled. When properly littered, one cow will make a ton of manure every month, if the liquid as well as the solid portion is saved. Ten head would thus make 120 tons, or 60 two-horse wngon loads in a year. A pair of horeea will make as much manure as one cow, or 12 tons in a year. A hundred sheep, if yarded w'eli every night and well littered, will make a hundred tons of manure in a year, and ten pigs will work up a wagou load in a month, ; t if supplied with sufficient coarse material. The stock of a 100-acre farm, which should consist of at least 10 cows, 10 head of steers, heifers, and calves, a pair oi horses, 100 sheep, and 10 pigs, would then make in tbe aggregate 316 tons of manure every year, or sufficient to give 12 tons per acre every fourth year. It this were well cared for, it would be in effect equal to double tbe quantity of ordinary yard manure; and if a plenty of swamp muck could be procured, at least 600 tons of the best manure could be made upon a 100-acre farm. If this were the rule inaieadjof a rare exception, or only a possibility, what a change would appear upon the face of the country, and what an addition would be made to ibe wealth of the nutionl'"