Mr. Joseph Harris:
Dear Sir—If you will refer to my work “Gardening for Profit,” New Edition, page 34, you will get about all the information I possess on Manures, except that I do not say anything about price. In a general way it might be safe to advise that whenever a ton (it is always best to speak of manures by weight) of either cow, horse, hog, or other stable-manure can be laid on the ground for $3, it is cheaper than commercial fertilizers of any kind at their usual market rates. This $3 per ton, I think, would be about the average cost in New York, Boston, or Philadelphia. We never haul it on the ground until we are ready to plow it in. If it has to be taken from the hog or cattle yards, we draw it out into large heaps, convenient to where it is to be put on the land, turning it, to keep it from burning or “fire-fanging,” if necessary. None of our farmers or market-gardeners here keep it under cover. The expense of such covering and the greater difficulties in getting at it, for the immense quantities we use, would be greater than the benefits to be derived from keeping it under cover—benefits, in fact, which, I think, may be greatly overrated.
Very truly yours,
Peter Henderson.
LETTER FROM J. M. B. ANDERSON, ED. “CANADA FARMER,” TORONTO.
“Canada Farmer” Office, Toronto, March 29, 1876.
J. Harris, Esq.:
Dear Sir—Yours of the 25th inst. is to hand, and I shall be most happy to render you any assistance in my power. The work you undertake is in able hands, and I have every confidence that, when completed, it will form an invaluable acquisition to the agricultural literature of the day.
Manure in this city is usually sold by the two-horse load—about 1½ tons—at the rate of $1 per load, or 66 cents per ton. The load contains just about a cord of manure, consequently a cord will weigh about 1½ tons.
With reference to the general management of manure in Canada, I may say that the system followed differs in no material respect from that of New York and the other Eastern States. It is usually kept over winter in the open barn yard (rarely under cover, I am sorry to say), laid out on the land about the time of disappearance of last snow, and plowed in. In some cases it is not carted out until the land is ready for immediate plowing. With some of our more advanced farmers, the system has lately been adopted of keeping manure under cover and sprinkling it thoroughly at intervals with plaster and other substances. Tanks are also becoming more common than formerly, for the preservation of liquid manure, which is usually applied by means of large, perforated hogs-heads, after the manner of street-watering.