Remarks on the Plan of a Stercorary. 283 



Let those who will not incur the expence of a pro- 

 per stercorary, fence or pen their dung heaps ; having 

 (as I have done profitably for many yeai's) formed the 

 bed in the manner directed. Let drains, leading into 

 a clayed vat, or -even a hogshead sunk in the earth, be 

 made. The heap may be covered with a straw roof, 

 supported by posts set in the ground. The rudest 

 step towards the object, is better than our present mis- 

 management. Dung" or muck, lying light, and not 

 trodden by cattle, ferments and putrefies quickly and 

 ecjually. 



Cattle should be confined at nights, in summer. — 

 When they will not feed in the day, owing to flies and 

 extreme heat, they should be fed at night with cut 

 grass ; and their dung composted, or thrown into the 

 stercorary. Summer dung is generally lost in the 

 fields; being either rendered worthless by exposure, or 

 carried away by beetles. 



Flaister of Paris, strewed on the layers of dung, pro- 

 motes fermentation and putrefaction; whereas lime, 

 especially before it is slacked, impedes them, and con- 

 sumes puti'cscible substances, forming with the resi- 

 duum, which is carhone, an insoluble compound. — 

 The gypsum mixed in composts is found highly bene- 

 ficial, and far preferable to lime^ which should not be 

 admitted while the fermentation and putrefaction are 

 in progress ; or afterwards, until it is slacked. The 

 muck should be considered only as a means of impreg- 

 nating other matter, and not a dependence in chief. — 

 Good surface mould, or common earth, thrown from 

 time to time on the muck heap, becomes a manure ; 

 and adds to the fertilizing qualities of the dung. It 



