MAKING AND SAVING MANURE.
The compost heap may be kept in the cow-yard, and must be in the shade. It should, therefore, be placed on the north side of the stable, and trees should be planted east and west of it. It must not be under cover nor washed by running water, nor receive the water from the roof of the stable; but the rain should fall on it directly from the skies to promote decomposition, and to prevent the escape of its volatile constituents. The manure of the stall, and the saturated earth of the brine pit, are mixed together to form the compost heap, and all the refuse material of the farm, garden, and yard, should be thrown on it. It ought to be kept in a compact body, level on top, and protected by boards on the sides to prevent it from spreading. No ashes or lime should ever be applied to it.
Regarding the material for absorbing the liquid excretions of the cow, nothing better can be found than prepared muck; but as this is seldom obtainable, the scrapings of the streets of a city, or even of a public road, may be used instead. If these cannot be had, the surface soil of the dairy farm answer the purpose. Whatever substance is employed must be thoroughly dried. The middle of summer is the proper time to prepare it. About four cart loads of it, as dry as they can be made, should be kept in the stable, or in some other place where it is not liable to attract moisture; and that amount will last the year round.
CONCLUSIONS ABOUT ARTICHOKES.
I have now given my instructions for keeping a cow, and it is evident from what I have written, that the Jerusalem Artichoke is my main dependence for her support. The other points that I have touched upon, are of minor importance, when compared with the value that I have attached to this plant. My own experience with the plant satisfies me that I have not overstated its merits. On rich land a single stalk will produce from a peck to half a bushel of the tubers. Last year was an exceptionably unfavorable one in this locality, on account of drouth in summer and fall; and yet the artichokes that I planted between the trees in my peach orchard yielded abundantly. I have fattened cattle on them without any additional food excepting a little hay, until they were fit for the butcher; and my horses thrive on them when fed in connection with hay, doing full work without grain. A brother of mine planted artichokes in a field that had been in cultivation for more than a century, and yet in spite of the drouth, of indifferent culture without manure, and of an early frost that prematurely killed the plants, the yield amounted to between five hundred and six hundred bushels to the acre.
RURAL ECONOMY.
Boussingault in his “Rural Economy,” pp. 159-160 says: “The Jerusalem Artichoke rises to a hight of from nine to ten feet; it flowers late, and I have not yet seen it ripen its seeds. It is propagated by the tubers which it produces, and which are regarded, for good reason, a most excellent food for cattle.... There are few plants more hardy and so little nice about the soil as the Jerusalem Artichoke; it succeeds everywhere with the single condition that the ground be not wet.... Of all the plants that engage the husbandman, the Jerusalem Artichoke is that which produces the most at the least expense of manure and manual labor. Kade states that a square patch of Jerusalem Artichokes in a garden was still in full productive vigor at the end of thirty-three years, throwing out stems from seven to ten feet in length, although for a very long time the plant had neither received any care or any manure. I could quote many examples of the great reproductive power of the Helianthus; I can affirm, nevertheless, that in order to obtain abundant crops, it is necessary to afford a little manure.... Schwertz estimates the mean quantity of dry leaves and stems at three tons, one cwt., one quarter and fifteen pounds per acre.”
Again, p. 401—“Experiment with horses.—Jerusalem potatoes are held excellent food for the horse; they are eaten greedily, and he thrives on them. In this second experiment 30.8 pounds of Jerusalems cut into slices were substituted for eleven pounds of hay, the same theoretical equivalents being assumed for them as for the common potato. The ration now consisted of hay, eleven pounds; straw, five and a half pounds; oats, seven and a half pounds, and Jerusalem potatoes, 30.8 pounds. Having been accustomed to this regimen for some days, the teams were weighed, and having gone on for eleven days, they were weighed again:
| Team No. 1. | No. 2. | Both Teams. | Mean per horse. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| In eleven days, | gain 55 | loss 33 | gain 22 | gain .9 |
“A result which leads to the conclusion that the equivalent assumed for the Jerusalem potato was correct; the animals had done their work, and gained one with another nine-tenths of a pound in weight.”