MANURES. 533 



should be a basin or hole to receive the drainings of the heap, 

 that they may be returned upon it. The washings or applica 

 tions of the liquid must be repeated, and holes occasionally made 

 in the heap to receive it. In a favorable temperature, it is stated 

 that a fermentation will commence in forty-eight hours, and that 

 in twelve or fifteen days the whole matter will be so reduced as 

 to be in a condition to apply to the land to be ploughed in with 

 advantage. 



I am not able to give with great accuracy the various propor 

 tions of ingredients which are prescribed ; but this general 

 statement will be sufficient for practical purposes, understand 

 ing only that there must be a sufficient quantity of the &quot;iquid 

 thoroughly to impregnate or saturate the heap. Several other 

 mixtures have been prescribed by different individuals, which 

 produce the same effect ; the only question is that of cost. I do 

 not deem it necessary further to refer to them, as they have been 

 given, in various forms to the public. Any cheap process, indeed, 

 by which such crude materials can be decomposed, must be valu 

 able, especially when the articles themselves, of which the 

 application is composed, are of an active and enriching nature. 

 In general such prescriptions are looked upon as a species of 

 quackery ; but Jauffret s method has been much approved in 

 France. 



7. GENERAL REMARKS ON MANURES. I have heard from some 

 farmers who claimed to be highly practical and intelligent, great 

 distrust expressed of the value of liquid manure. They have 

 applied to their lands, with comparatively small effect, the drain- 

 ings of their dung-heap ; but, as a capital Swiss farmer observed 

 to me, the drainage of a manure heap and the contents of a urine 

 cistern are very different matters. The former is, of course, in 

 strength and efficacy, very inferior to the latter. 



The Flemish farmers, in the application of their manures, aim 

 at two objects: the one to have their manure in a form in which 

 it can be immediately taken up by the plant ; the other, to apply 

 it at a time when it is directly needed. In a liquid form it is, 

 of course, most accessible to the demands of the plant, and they 

 apply it at the time of sowing ; and to some crops repeatedly 

 afterwards, when they are in a growing state, and the effects of 

 the first application are exhausted. They are, likewise, most 

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