lj£ r ON MANURES. 



IX. 



An Essay on Manures. By Arthur Young, Esq. F. R. %.* 



oVX^ub^ct ^i-R. Young first arranges the treatment of his subject 

 in the following order. 1. The nature of the manure. 2. 

 Its properties. 3. Collecting. 4. Preparation. 5. State 

 in which applied. (j. Application. 7. Season when ap-? 

 plied. 8. Quantity. 9» On what soil. 



He next classes -manures in two divisions. 1. Such as are 

 made or dug on a farm. 2. Such as are usually purchased. 

 The latter he subdivides into animal, vegetable, and fossil. 

 In the first-division comes 



1. Marie. 



jrf ar Ie. The raarles most common in England are clay, stone, 



arid shell marie. Some distinguish them by their colours, 

 as Mhite, red, blue, black, he. ; but the colour deserves 

 no attention except as indicative of iron. 



Its nature, They are usually composed of sand, clay, and calcareous 



earth. The red and black have a small quantity of iron. 

 A marie from Cheshire had 1*7 per cent. Even in the 

 whitest prussiate of potash will almost always detect some 

 iron. The calcareous earth varies from 25 to 80 per cent. 

 One of the best clay marles contained 40 calcareous earth, 

 50 clay, 8 or 10 sand, and clear signs of some iron. It falls 

 in pure water, and by exposure, to the air. The clay' con- 

 tains generally a small portion of iron, a little volatile al- 

 kali, and some sulphuric acid; and even when deprived of 



* Abridged from tbe Bath Society's Papers, vol. X, p. 07. This 

 essay was written in consequence of the following subject being an- 

 nounced for a prize, whicb it obtained. " Tbe Bcdfordean gold medal 

 v ill be presented to tbe author, who, at or before the first meeting in 

 November 1804, shall produce to the Society the best essay, founded 

 on practical experience, on tbe nature and properties of manures, and 

 tbe mode of preparing and applying tbem to various soils : iu which 

 ess?y shall be pointed out tbe cheapest manner of collecting aud pre- 

 paring the different kinds of manures, and tbe state, season, and quan- 

 tity, in which they should be applied." 



all 



