during the last Four Years. 209 



greater escape of ammonia takes place, unless some substance, 

 which is not yet ascertained, be added to fix it, or it be largely 

 diluted with water, which occasions great labour in its appli- 

 cation. This last objection lies also against the other form of 

 liquid manure, the runnings from the yard collected in a tank ; for 

 after heavy rains they sometimes do not contain above two per 

 cent, of salts, and are then not worth the labour of carriage. It 

 appears that this foreign practice has arisen from two causes : 

 one, the want of litter^ and where the same cause exists, as on 

 some of our dairy-farms, the method might be Avell introduced ; 

 the other motive is the desire in Flanders of applying a liquid top- 

 dressing in May to the corn growing on sandy land, or else to a 

 second crop, such as carrots sown amongst beans : but this last 

 case does not arise in England. Some loss, however, must arise 

 by the runnings from every farm-yard ; for whether the ammonia 

 be fixed or escape in the air, there is no doubt it is still soluble 

 and runs away in the water. One remedy is, to prevent the rain 

 from flowing down the surrounding roofs into the yard, by placing 

 gutters under the eaves. Perhaps another would be what I have 

 seen in an old-fashioned yard, a hollow space, like the basin of a 

 dry pond, three or four feet deep, with a drain near the top that 

 prevents it from overflowing. This hollow I wa& about to do 

 away with as unsightly ; but when filled as it now is with couch- 

 grass — leaves or stubble would certainly have a better appear- 

 ance — it seems likely to answer the purpose of detaining valuable 

 salts that would otherwise run away. It is also supposed that 

 great waste arises when dung is spread on a field ; and this 

 theory has been carried so far that a serious charge has been 

 brought in a daily publication against the farmers of the Vale of 

 Aylesbury for dressing their meadows, not at a wrong season^ but 

 for dressing them with dung at all, as if the whole essence of 

 the dung must be evaporated, though the farmers had not yet 

 found out their mistake. Some waste, I suppose, takes place, 

 for which on meadows there is of course no remedy, but perhaps 

 not so great as is imagined. Mr. Handley informs me that he 

 has observed for years a common field;, on part of which, occupied 

 by cottagers, the dung was sometimes allowed to lie spread for 

 many weeks, while on the remainder it was ploughed in at once, 

 but he never could detect any difference in the succeeding crop. 

 Possibly after the dung has fermented, a great part of the am- 

 monia is reduced, as Sprengel supposes, to a fixed state. If so, 

 we must hesitate to adopt what many have recommended and 

 practised, the ploughing in of dung in a fresh state. After all, 

 if the yard be well littered and the dunghills be covered with 

 earth, I doubt whether, excepting on grass farms where the tank 

 may be necessary from the want of straw, the present manage- 



