526 EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE. 



The Swiss, likewise, are remarkable for their care of their 

 manures. The heap is usually placed in front of the house, a 

 slight excavation being made for it, so as to form a basin into 

 which the liquids are drained. The long manure is laid at the 

 sides, and doubled in with the greatest care, and no little skill, 

 so as to form a neat and compact pile in a square or oblong form. 

 This seemed to be almost a universal practice; and the neatness 

 and exactness with which it is laid up are quite remarkable. 

 The manure from the stables and the refuse of the house is 

 deposited daily upon it ; and the drainings which run down to 

 one end of the basin in which the manure heap is placed, are 

 often pumped or dipped up, and returned upon the pile. The 

 odor of the heap directly by the door and under the windows of 

 the house cannot be agreeable ; but the extreme neatness with 

 which it is formed, and the cleanliness and care which mark 

 ordinarily every thing about the premises, do much to redeem its 

 offensiveness. 



In their economy of manures, in their modes of applying 

 them, in their extraordinary liberality in the use of them, the 

 palm must be conceded to the Flemish over all other people. 

 The best Flemish farmers advise against the general mixing of 

 manures. Their doctrine is, that as different animals demand 

 different species of food, as well on account of their habits or 

 constitution as on account of their taste, so different plants and 

 different soils require specific and peculiar manures. I shall not 

 discuss the question how far manure is to be considered as the 

 food of plants. It is enough for us to know that manures are 

 indispensable to their growth, and that different manures are 

 very different in their various properties and effects. The 

 manure of the horse is a powerful and warm manure, and con 

 sidered as best suited to lands which are cold and moist. It 

 operates quickly ; it lightens the soil ; but its effects pass off 

 sooner than those of many other manures. The manure of 

 horned animals is deemed more substantial, slower in its opera 

 tion, and more durable in its effects. The Flemish farmers say, 

 that where a second crop is raised upon the ground, the effects 

 of this manure are more apparent in the second than in the pre 

 ceding crop. It is obvious, however, that the quality of the 

 manure must depend very much on the kind of food upon which 

 the animals are fed. The simplest experiment made with the 



