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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



the land were vested in the cultivator ; and so long as he 

 paid the rent he never could be ejected : it was the in- 

 heritance of his children. There were no leases ; and 

 *hat we call tenant-right never entered into the minds 

 of the people. But there was one exception to this rule, 

 though the exception was just. It was the national in- 

 terest that every acre should be cultivated ; for if one 

 man had been allowed with impunity to neglect that 

 duty, all might have done so, when the people would 

 have suffered from want of food, and the king would 

 have lost his revenue ; therefore to this tenure v/as at- 

 tached the condition of forfeiture as a proper punish- 

 ment on idleness. This was, however, rather a pre- 

 cautionary than a punitive measure, and we may rea- 

 sonably presume that the law was very rarely enforced. 

 No man had to pay any fee for enclosing wastes or 

 commons; indeed, this was encouraged by the Govern- 

 ment, who never began to levy the tax till the cultivator 

 had recovered any outlay of time or money that he had 

 incurred in clearing, levelling, or other preliminary 

 operations. 



These Indian farmers, if we may so call them, had 

 another most important advantage ; they were only 



bound to pay their land-tax or rent in kind, unless Ihey 

 voluntarily made an agreement to commute it into 

 money — which bears a close relation to our former sys- 

 tem of tithe-gathering. When the seasons were un- 

 favourable to him, they were equally unfavourable to the 

 imperial treasury ; and it is probable that this circum- 

 stance led to the system of irrigation to which we have 

 referred, which secured the country against famine, so 

 far as human prudence could guard against such a ca- 

 lamity. The whole system was eminently wise, and so 

 long as it was preserved in its original integrity, the 

 country flourished ; and few princes have bestowed 

 greater happiness on his people than the illustrious 

 Akbar, who ascended the throne of Delhi a.d. 1545. It 

 was the very reverse of European feudalism, which re- 

 cognized the king as sole landed proprietor, and led to 

 that vast train of vexatious consequences which jurists 

 have denominated the feudal "incidents"; but the 

 benefits of Hindoo tenure will be more highly appre- 

 ciated when we describe, as we propose to do in our 

 next article, the system of tillage communities or mu- 

 nicipalities, on which the entire polity of ancient India 

 was founded. 



STABLE MANURES-THEIR TREATMENT, &c. 



The war among agricultural writers still continues, and 

 we find parties in favour of fermenting their manures with- 

 out additional moisture. Some persons are in favour of 

 ploughing the manures into the soil in their long and un- 

 fermented state ; others prefer partial decomposition ; 

 others to reduce it all to the fluid form before use ; and 

 some believe that they may spread it over the surface of the 

 ground, and leave it for weeks without its losing any part 

 of its value ; others believe that its chief value consists in 

 its ammoniacal portions, and nurse these with great care, 

 while otliers seem to be willing to carry on its fermentation 

 in the dry state, until entirely fire-fanged, and thus to 

 possess nothing but the inorganic portions, which are pre- 

 cisely equivalent to the ash which would be left, were it 

 all burned before use. All these systems have advocates, 

 and so great seems to be the fear of English chemists, that 

 even in replying to questions put to them at their lectures, 

 they are afraid to fearlessly advocate the truths which their 

 lectures have previously set forth, and which have given rise 

 to the questions asked. Now the simple truth is this : 

 Barn-yard manure contains both organic and inorganic con- 

 stituents, and no plant can make use of either of these 

 until found in solution in water ; and if any plan can be 

 devised by which both organic and inorganic constituents 

 may be delivered to the plant in a fluid form, that is the 

 plan which should be adopted, and the only question for the 

 farmer to ask himself is, Can I get the whole of these con- 

 stituents in solution, or must a part of them be lost by the 

 process? and if the whole, can it be done at so light an ex- 

 pense as to render the mode practical as well as practicable ? 

 That it is practicable, we all know — where manure sheds 

 are properly arranged, and the necessary facilities exist for 

 a supply of water, with economical means to carry this 

 water, laden with the constituents of the manure, to the 

 field, without large cost ; then the most economical method 



would be to convert all the manure to the fluid form before 

 its use. This plan calls for a drainage cistern at the foot 

 of the heap, supplied with a pump to be moved by a wind- 

 mill, and an easy supply of water to replace the portions 

 taken away. It also calls for a moderate portion of sul- 

 phuric acid, so as to fix the ammonia in the form of sulphate 

 of ammonia, which is a non- volatile compound. 



Under such an arrangement the dung-heap would always 

 remain at a proper degree of humiditj', for the more rapid 

 decomposition of the manure without the loss of ammonia ; 

 and by the aid of liquid-manure carts, distributing pipes, 

 &c., the contents of the cistern could be continually dis- 

 posed of, for the use of crops, thus presenting all kinds of 

 manure in the best form for appropriation by plants ; for 

 the chemical conditions of the heap would at all times be 

 such as to insure such chemical changes of the constituents 

 as are necessary to render them soluble. The moisture ex- 

 uding from the heap to the cistern should be continually 

 thrown back to its top, and thus every particle in the mass 

 would in turn come in contact with the soluble portions of 

 every other part of the heap. No turning of the compost 

 would be necessary ; decomposable matters of every kind 

 could be continually thrown upon it, and the fluid wastage 

 of the stables, &c., might be conveyed to the cistern. 



Whenever the fermentation should be such as to liberate 

 ammonia, a small quantity of sulphuric acid added to the 

 contents of the cistern would find its way through the mass 

 by means of the pump, and thus change all the free 

 ammonia to sulphate, which, although soluble, is not 

 volatile. If the conditions referred to be complied with, 

 the whole manurial product of a farm may be presented to 

 the crops in a soluble shape ; for it is a mere question of 

 time to reduce even the dryest parts of the straw to the 

 fluid form. It is well known that the same amount of 

 manurial matter in solution will produce a greater amount 



