(2015.) In regard to the saddler, he usually comes twice a-year and repairs the harness, at the end of the work in autumn, and immediately after the throng time in spring. He is either paid day's wages and provides himself with leather and every other material, or these are supplied him; or he undertakes to support the harness in working order by contract. I have been accustomed to see saddlery repairs paid in day's wages; but the general contract-price is 30s. a-year per draught. The portions of the harness that require most repair are the collars and saddles, where these are in constant contact with the horse's skin, and the paddings of which should be restuffed every half-year, and the cloth renewed, if threadbare or in the least rotten. The clippings of sheep, accumulated during the season, when washed and properly dried, coming from the coarsest parts of the wool, make good and cheap stuffing for collars and saddles. Care should be taken to make every loose bit of the sewing of leather tight, to prevent rain in winter or drought in summer penetrating into the interior of the harness, and thereby rotting or hardening it. The best leather ought always to be used, as being the most thrifty in the end, which consists of well tanned ox-hide. Untanned sheep-skin is employed to sew on the capes of the collars. Saddlers are not bound to uphold the iron-work of harness, such as plough-chains. (2016.) I may take this opportunity of saying, that a stormy day, when the horses cannot go to work, should be taken advantage of to clean the harness. Work in summer and autumn not only dirties, but renders the leather of harness very dry, and if allowed to be in that state, it will crack. The harness should first be washed clean with a sponge and warm water, and hung up for that day to dry. The next day it should be rubbed over with sweet oil, especially on the outside; for the side which is constantly next the horse's skin may not require oiling at all, though it will require washing to remove incrusted perspiration and hair. If blacking is to be used at all, it should not be put on until the day after the oil has been absorbed by the leather; but for my part, I see no use of blacking at all, save only to make the harness look better. The blacking should be of the best shoe-blacking, which is not dear, being only 1s. per quart bottle, and which, if judiciously put on in small quantity and brushed firmly with a hard brush, will go over a large assortment of harness. The lamp-black commonly made use of for the purpose is a filthy thing, coming off and staining every thing in the first shower; and the common train oil, which is usually employed to soften the leather, is still more filthy, and is not unfrequently daubed on with a wisp of straw upon encrusted dirt. (2017.) I may remark, in conclusion, that in all the three species of repairing work just mentioned, when contracted for, it is the interest of the contractor to make repairs as efficient as possible, and not to allow the wear of implements to proceed so far as to cause repairs nearly as extensive as a renewal; while, on the other hand, when repairs are paid in day's wages, it is as much the tradesman's interest that the same implement shall require frequent repairs. So well understood is this manœuvre in places where jobs are paid by day's wages, that I have heard of ploughmen being bribed by the smith to bring their plough-irons and even their horses in turns, to the smithy every night, whether repairs were required or not; and also of being bribed by the joiner to break the shafts and handles of the minor implements whenever they were much in use. Such roguery, it is hoped, is rare; but no species of roguery is too mean for human nature to practise. I speak not of such cases from personal experience; but cases of such frauds have been brought under my notice, as having been practised upon landed proprietors of my acquaintance who have home-farms, so well authenticated, that I cannot doubt their existence; and when things that have happened may happen again, it is my duty to apprise you of what you may expect to meet with when you engage in business on your own account. 43. of the FORMING OF DUNGHILLS, AND OF LIQUID MANURE TANKS. "If frost, returning, interrupt the plough, GRAHAM, (2018.) Towards the close of winter, the dung will have accumulated so high in the large courts I and K, figs. 3 and 4, Plates III and IV, as to become nearly level with the feeding-troughs ≈, and thereby making them inconveniently low for the cattle; but before this inconvenience occurs, the dung should be removed and formed into dunghills in the fields intended to be manured in the ensuing season. The court K, besides its own litter and the refuse from the corn-barn C, contains the litter of the work-horse stable O, and the pig-sty b; and the court I contains the litter of the servants'-cow byre Y, besides its own. The dung from the cows' court / should also be taken away, to save annoyance to VOL. II. CC cows heavy in calf wading in deep litter; and that from the courts of both the hammels M and N, if not from under the sheds, should also be taken away, for the same reason as given above in the case of the courts, that the feeding-troughs become too low, especially in the hammels M of the fattening cattle. (2019.) I am thus particular in detailing the contents of each court, because, differing in their constituent parts, they should be appropriated to the raising of the crop best adapted for each sort of manure. For example, the court K contains a large proportion of stable litter, and not a little from that of the pig sties; so its contents are somewhat of a different nature from those of the court I, which contains nothing but the litter of cattle. If it is desired to raise a large extent of that crop which thrives best with a considerable proportion of horse-dung, the contents of the court K should of course be preferred to that of the other court I; and if any crop is best raised with cattle-dung, the contents of the court I and the cows' court / should be used for it. Or should the manure required consist of an average proportion for the raising of general crops, then the contents of all the courts should be mixed together. This method of appropriating the dung of a farm is not so much practised by farmers as it deserves; and it is not urged by me as a mere theoretical suggestion, but as practically being the best mode of appropriating manure to raise each crop to the best advantage. To make my meaning more intelligible, I shall illustrate it in this way. Suppose that carrots were desired to be raised on a field of light land, then the land should be dunged in the autumn with the contents of the court K, because it contains a large proportion of horse litter. When potatoes are attempted to be raised on heavy soil, which is not their natural one, they are most likely to succeed with horse litter also. Turnips, on the other hand, grow best with cow-dung, and therefore a mixture of the courts I and I would be best for them. Should carrots not be raised, and the soil be naturally favourable to the potato, and therefore horse-dung will not be specially wanted, the best way is to mix all the sorts of dung together, and form dunghills of average properties. (2020.) There is another matter which deserves consideration before the courts are begun to be cleared of their contents; which is the position the dunghill or dunghills should occupy in the field, and this point is determined partly by the form which the surface of the field presents, and partly from the point of access to the field. In considering this point, which is of more importance than it may seem to possess, it should be held as a general rule, that the dunghill should be placed where the horses will have the advantage of going down-hill with the loads from it. Wherever practicable, this rule should never be violated, as facilities afforded to labour in a busy season are of the utmost importance. If a field, then, has a uniformly sloping surface, the dunghill should be placed at the upper or highest side, but then the access to the field may only be at the lowest side. And it may be impracticable to reach the upper side by any road. In such a case, the loads should be taken up a ridge of the field; and when a field is so inconveniently placed, frosty weather should be chosen to form the dunghill in it, as the wheels and horse's feet will then have a firm bearing. But should it be found impracticable to lead dung to its upper side, by reason of the soft state of the land or steepness of the ascent, then the dunghill should be formed at the side. nearest of access. If the field has a round-backed form, the dunghill should be placed on the top of the height; and in order to supply the ridges down both slopes from it with manure, a ridge, by way of headridge, should be formed along the crest of the height, at the time the stubble is ploughed. In a level, or nearly a level field, it is immaterial which side the dunghill occupies. (2021.) The fields to which the dung should be carried are those to be fallowed in the ensuing season; that is, set apart for the growth of green crops, such as potatoes and turnips, and for the part which receives more cleaning than a green crop admits of, namely, a bare fallow. The potato culture coming first in order, the land destined for that crop should have its manure carried out and formed into the first dunghill. The turnips next come in hand; and then the bare fallow. The dunghills intended for potatoes and turnips should of course be made respectively of such a size as to manure the extent of land to be occupied by each crop. The manure for bare fallow not being required till much farther on in the season, may be deferred being carried out at present. The proportions and nature of the soils best suited for potato and turnip culture will be treated when we come to speak of those crops respectively, so that any remarks on these particulars would be irrelevant here. (2022.) Then the precise spot which a dunghill should occupy in a field is not a matter of indifference. I have seen a dunghill placed in the centre of a field which it was intended wholly to manure. From this point, it is obvious, the carts must either traverse every ridge situate between the one that is in the act of being manured and the dunghill, or go direct to a head-ridge, and thence along it to the ridge to be manured. This latter alternative must be adopted if the dung is to be deposited in drills; for if not, the drills will be much cut up by the passage of the carts across them—a practice which should never be allowed when neat work is desired. The dunghill should be placed on a headridge or a side-ridge of the field; and of these two positions, I would prefer the side-ridge, because, when the head-ridge is occupied in the length of a dunghill, the ends of all the ridges abutting against its side cannot be ploughed or drilled in their entire length; and if there are more than one dunghill on the same head-ridge, a considerable number of ridges may thus be curtailed of their fair proportions. The dunghill on a side-ridge affects only a part of the single ridge which it occupies. Should a field be large and require two dunghills, the one first to be used should be placed along a ridge at a distance just beyond the space of ground the manure it contains will cover, so that the ridge occupied by it may be ploughed to its end before it is manured; and the second dunghill should be placed along the farthest off side-ridge. The ridge occupied by the farthest dunghill, can be easily reached at a time when the earth is hard; but should the weather continue fresh and the ground soft, a dunghill should be made on the side-ridge nearest the gateway; and should no frost happen, this dunghill should be made large enough to manure the whole field. A large dunghill in one place will no doubt cause more labour to manure the field at the busy season, than would two dunghills at different places, but in soft weather and soil, it is better to incur the risk of future inconvenience, than allow the horses to drag only half-loads axle-deep along a soft head-ridge. When proper sites can be chosen for dunghills in fields, the loads, in the busy season, will not only be ensured a passage down hill, but the dung be situate at the shortest distance from the place it is wanted, and the ploughed and prepared land be uninjured by cart-wheels and horses' feet. The courts (2023.) Some consideration is even required in littering the courts, and especially the large courts I. and K. No one would believe that any care is requisite in laying down straw in a court, but those who have witnessed the inconvenience and loss of time incurred in removing dung from courts, will easily perceive that this may be the case. are usually cleared during frost, when time is erroneously regarded of little value, and when, as our motto implies, the plough is rendered useless; but notwithstanding of this common opinion, a loss of a small portion of time, even at this season, may have a material effect upon some future operations. For example: the hard state of the ground may favour the carriage of manure to a distant field, to gain which, most of the time is spent upon the road. Suppose frost continued as long as to allow time to carry as much manure as would serve the whole field, provided ordinary diligence were used, and no interruption met with in the courts. Suppose further, on manuring the field in summer, there was |