MANURES. 527 



original and most common of all chemical instruments, the hu 

 man nose, will at once determine the superior efficacy of the 

 manure of animals highly fed with esculent vegetables and grain 

 or meal over that of animals fed upon straw only. The manure 

 of swine is considered by the Flemish as of very little comparative 

 value, and where used, in order to produce as much effect, they 

 advise to employ full double the quantity which they would use 

 of cow manure. My own experience has led me to rely upon 

 the dung of swine as among the strongest of manures ; and the 

 low estimate which the Flemish farmers place upon it must come 

 from the hogs among them being fed mainly upon grass ; and 

 from what I have seen, both in Belgium and France, being very 

 poorly kept at the best. The swill pail, which is found at the 

 kitchen door in the United States full of butter-milk and whey 

 intermixed with cooked vegetables, broken pieces of meat and 

 bread, is, alas ! not to be found at many cottage or farm-house 

 doors on the European Continent. The whey and the butter 

 milk are wanted for the table ; and it would be a species of 

 sacrilege to give meat. which a large portion of the laboring 

 people seldom or never taste, or bread, to the swine. The 

 dung of swine is, however, in the best cases, to be considered as 

 a cold manure, and not easily brought into a state of active fer 

 mentation. 



The dung of sheep is every where highly esteemed. It is 

 active and powerful ; and upon light and moist lands they rate 

 two loads of the dung of sheep as fully equal to three of the 

 manure of other brute animals. It is much used with the oat 

 crop ; but it is not advised for flax, as being apt to force it to a 

 premature ripeness. Valuable, however, as is the manure of 

 sheep, I have seen on the Continent no instance of the excellent 

 practice of folding sheep, which prevails so generally in England 

 and Scotland. In the bergeric, or sheep-house, where their sheep 

 are brought at night, they are careful to spread an abundance of 

 litter, which is generally removed twice a year, in the spring 

 and autumn. They begin with a simple layer, which the feet 

 of the sheep soon reduce to fineness, and so proceed, layer by 

 layer, to a depth of three or four feet, which thus becomes, 

 throughout its whole thickness, thoroughly impregnated with 

 urine. 



In some cases, where the farmer does not find it convenient to 



