l64 Thmights on the Application of Dung, May 



perficiat and flovenly way in which dung was formerly fpread| 

 muft be frefli in the memories of mod people. In many in- 

 ilances, I have feen the big heap only broken down, as it were, 

 into a number of fmall ones •, and as for tearing or fliaking the 

 dung afunder, fuch an idea then rarely entered into the head of 

 ^ny man y though it is plain that, without making a complete fepa- 

 ration, the article could neither be fufHciently covered in, nor 

 its virtues be conveyed to the foil. Perhaps the increafed atten- 

 tion now btflowcd, in all the cultivated diftricls, to the fpread- 

 ing of dung, originated from the meafure of limiting the quan- 

 tity applied. When forty, fifty, nay even fixty double loads were 

 applied to an acre, it was not very dlilicult to cover its furface, 

 even with an imperfedl: feparation, though it certainly was im-» 

 practicable to bury the big lumjTS with a furrow of ordinary 

 fize ; but when the quantity was brought dov/n to eighteen and 

 twenty loads, and, more fo, when twelve and fourteen loads were 

 thought fufficienty a different conduft became abfolutely necef- 

 fary. Another improvement ailb followed, viz. fpreading dung 

 when raw or green, that is, immediately after the carts, in which 

 way, at lead during fummer, it will be feparated at one half of 

 the expence, and to much better purpofe, than when it is fuf- 

 fered to lye in the heap for a day or two. In fhort, it is a fure 

 mark of a flovenly farmer, to fee dung remain unfpread in the 

 iield, unlefs it be in the winter months, when it may happen^ 

 that hands cannot be got for carrying on fuch operations with 

 the ufual regularity. At that time the injury fuftained, by lof- 

 ing a few days, i^ not great, though, as a general rule, it will 

 be found that the expence is always fmalleft when the carts are 

 regularly followed up. 



Having made thefe preliminary remarks, as con-ne£ted with the 

 appHcation of dung, in all foils and lituatiqns, I proceed to fay a few 

 words on the fubjecls mentioned in the introdu6lory paragraph. 



When turnip husbandry forms the chief branch of fallow 

 procefs, dung, as obierved in my former letter, is naturally of 

 a fuperior quality, and requires little artificial management for 

 bringing it to a proper Rate of preparation. In the greatell part 

 of Scotland, and even in England, where the drill and horfe- 

 hoeing fyftem is pracbifed, the common, and undoubtedly the 

 moft approved way of applying dung to turnips, is by laying 

 it in the intervals of the drills or fmall ridges, which are pre- 

 vioufly made up by a bouty or two furrows of the plough. 

 Thefe drills or ridges are formed at a diflance of from twenty- 

 four to thirty inclics from the centre of each ; and by driving 

 tlie horfes and cart along the middle one of the fpace intended 

 to be manured, the dung is drawn out either by the carter, or 



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