





4-1 



moved ; l>-.it if much run fall*, especially if in 1 



dung heap, a serious UM in ammonia, soluble organic matter, ph-w- 

 abate of linio. and alU of |XUali is incurred, ami the manure become* 

 rapidly deteriorated in value, whilst at the nine time it is diminished 



The worst method of making manure is to produce it by animal* 

 kept in open yard*, aince a large proportion of valuable hrtttttng 

 matter U mated in a short time ; and after a lapse of 12 months, at 

 taut 2-3rd* of the aubatance of the manure is wasted, and on!.-. 

 inferior in quality. to an equal weight of fre--h iltmg, in left behind. 

 The most rational plan of keeping manure in hca] appear* to be that 

 adopted by Mr. Lawrence, of Cirenoe*trr, and described by him at 

 length in" Morton's Cyclopaedia of Agriculture," which consists 

 essentially in adding each day's store to a narrow heap, and covering it 

 with earth at once, completing the heap as you go. 



The great use of liquid manure on light noils U to impregnate them 

 with soluble matter, which being diffused through their substance, 

 supplies nourishment to the roots of plants, wherever they may shoot 

 out. It may be applied to the land at any time before the seed is 

 sown, and soon after, when the blade springs up or the seed begins to, 

 f.irm ; in thort. whenever the plant requires fresh nourishment, or 

 when that which existed in the soil is diminished. Without liquid 

 manure, the poor silicious sands of Flanders could never be cultivated, 

 much les* produce crops which vie in quantity and quality with those 

 on the best soils. The quantity of farm-yard dung, in a very rotten 

 state, which this soil would require according to the common system 

 of manuring, could never be produced by all the straw which can be 

 raised upon it in its first state of cultivation. But cattle produce urine, 

 and tills produces niots for cattle. The great effect of liquid manure 

 has set the fanners on finding some artificial substitute for the simple 

 urine and diluted dung of cattle. Such substitutes are obtained by 

 mixing all kinds of refuse animal matti-r with water, and inducing 

 putrefaction. The emptying* of privies from towns is scarcely a sub- 

 stitute ; for it U the same as the> liquid from the stables in a more con- 

 centrated form ; but the refuse of oil-mills and various manufactures, 

 when diluted and mixed with a port ion of putrid urine, soon 

 animilated to it. This becomes a branch of trade in those countries 

 where nothing will grow without manure, and is a resource where an 

 increasing population demands the cultivation of inferior soils to MI ; 'ply 

 the necessary increase of food, as well as an increase of prodn< 

 those which are naturally fertile. 



The increase of manure by the formation of compottt is well known 

 in many parts of Britain, and by their means the land has in many dis- 

 tricts being rendered much more productive. The fundamental 

 principle upon which composts have been mode, is that of impregnating 

 portions uf earth with those ports of the dung of cattle, which, from v.ant 

 of management in the common dunghills, would have been dissipated and 

 lost ; and also accelerating or retarding the decomposition of animal and 

 vegetable substances by the addition of earths, such as chalk, marl, 

 clay, and even sand, according to the nature of the soil on which the 

 comport is to be used. All solid manure which is to be ploughed into 

 the ground should contain certain parts already soluble in water, which 

 promote vegetation : while other ]x>rtions should be in a progressive 

 state, so as to afford a succession of soluble matter by a gradual and 

 slow decomposition. 



Liquid manure, however active and immediately effective, soon 

 loses iU power; whereas solid dung, well prepared and ploughec 

 into the ground, will hut for several crops. It is the judicious use 

 of both these manures, conjointly, which has the best ami most 

 permanent effect. The dung or compost, having been ploughed in well 

 requires some tim before it can have any direct ell- 



I the seed or the nourishment of the plant. The li pud, on tin 

 contrary, act* from the moment it is poured on the surface. It i< tin 

 milk of the young plant, which thrives upon it and stretches out its 

 fibre* through the earth, till it roaches the dun.:. -.-. !ii.-li is now in a 

 proper state to supply the more vigorous root* with Millicicnt nourish 

 inent. It is evident that the growth must be more rapid and regular 

 and not so liable to be checked from want of proper nourishin 

 are the young root* in danger of perishing by )>eing too soon expos* 

 to the immediate contact of rank dung. Every exertion should tin 

 tan be made by the industrious husbandman to increase the quantity 

 and improve the quality of every species of manure both solid ant 

 liquid : and hen careful experiment can alone be depended upon. 



In the formation of composU the principal object* are, to regulate 

 the decompoaiti>1b of the organic substances, and to increase tl 

 of the manure by means of less expensive materials than straw. Ko 

 then purposes lime or chalk is generally used : the former, in its 

 caustic state, to accelerate the decomposition of fihrmi 

 latter to add to the mass, and absorb any portion of a. id. which i 

 always produced in a certain stage of the fermentation. The mode o 

 doing this i* so generally known, that it is needless to di-scril 

 hall only obwrve that the stifleat clay may be used with advantage in 

 oomposte, where better soil is not at hand ; and for light lands, the 

 tider the clay the better, provided it be thoroughly incorporated witl 

 the manure. The most useful material, under pro]>er management, i 

 vegetable soil or turf. This may b.- laid in layers with quick 1 i 

 earth ; the whole being well soaked with liquid manure. If any kin< 

 of vegetable matter, such as fern, pond-weeds, &c., can be added, it wil 



uch the richer. The lime I 



.xly fibre is dissolved, and the wl .-.lien 



ver and well mixed, becomes a very rich' earth, which, 

 pread on the land and slightly ploughed or harrowed in, ni-.-itly 

 nrichea its surface. By this means many poor soils may be im- 

 iroved, where the cultivation is not sufficiently extended to produce 

 traw. 



Although bones have been treated of in a separate article [Boxes], it 

 may be proper to mention lure, that if some easy means of disc< 

 heir substance were discovered, they might be made of much c 

 use than they now aie. At ] n--. nt they are put in with the M-.-d in a 

 nokcn state, and as they remain a l.-n-/ time undecomposed in tl> 

 heir effect, after the ihst crop, is w.ircely perceptible, unless I 

 arge quantity is used. By mixing dissolved bones in a liquid state 

 in earth, almost all the component parts of urine would be there. 



[We leave the preceding sentence as written many years ago by 

 Mr. lihain, that he may have the credit of so early a ; f the 



result which has nctiially followed the discovery of the method here 

 discussed. In the article on II.IM.-, Karon I, icing's method of dis- 

 solving them, which is now in universal practice, is descril 



Besides an iinnien-- number of waste substances now used in manure, 

 we have, in guano and other imported fertilisers, means of replenishing 

 our soils of which the agriculturists of thirty years ago knew in ; 

 and to some of them we must now make some reference. But, m>t. it 

 may be named, that the ashes of vegetable substances which ha\ 

 Inirnt are very effective in stimulating vegetation. They 

 used as a top-dressing on yo I and grasses; and wh 



there is an appeara: ness in the gross wo<xl-oshes are of 



use. It is however seldom that wood-ashes are need as manure until 

 the greater part af the alkali has beeu extracted ; but when 

 of the land is pared oil', aud the dry sods ore burnt, the a.-hes which 

 result from this operation are very efhotive m producing a good crop 

 without any other manure. [l'.\i<iMi AMI I'.riisixi;.] The i 

 from bleachers' and soap-boilers' premises have still some portion . I 

 alkali in them, and, as they contain lime and other caitlisin 

 dividid state, their eil'ect on the soil is very perceptible. S 



.oiled and decried at ditl'erent tinus. owing probably to the 

 different circumstances under which it ha* 1 .ecu trie!. Mangold 

 undoubtedly benefits by its application ; and one or two cv. 

 in inland situations, will benefit other crops as well. Quick-lime slaked 

 with salt water U a powerful manure. 



It is hardly consistent with the character of thi i that 



instruction should be given in extreme detail on the source and supply 

 of the manures of the farm, but the conclusion may be named, that 

 on well-managed land, cultivated on the alternate system of cropping, 

 whereat least one-half ws grain, there will lie a supply of 



from 3 to 4 tons of dung per acre, according to the rotation ad 

 and certainly* not more than fi tons, even under good management . and 

 heavy crops. But what is wanted under such a r' -uppose 



it to be a six years course of cropping, namely, 1, wheat ; 2, beans ; 

 3, wheat; 4, swedes; 6, barley; (i, clover. Tim. 

 two crops to which dressings of farm-yard dung are 

 n iiui ly, beans and swedes; and in l-'.n-laud, the clo\cr. 

 before it has yield". I its crop or after it, for the wheat nil. -n then 

 receives a dressing. In the former case 100 a--n -.'.md in the other 

 150 acres, on a I'.irm "I :!00, have to receive a dressing of mamn \ 

 quantity equal to 1000 tons U all that can be ex. 

 of dung, which is all that can be given \ .. -r a<-ie. .-, 



the 7 or 8 tons per acre, \\hich is all that in the 



other case are a very r 



i. Highly liberal treatment of the land/ On 50 a 

 clover, 500 tons of yard manure are wanted ; on 50 acres of bcai 

 tons of yard manure are wanted, besides at least 7{ to> 

 Over the 50 acres of turnips we want 7. r iO to 1000 i 

 dung. These quantities amount to i>0()0 tons of dung, aqu 

 which it is useless to expect, seeing that it i- double, what good manage- 

 ment supplies. 



Hi n. e the iue.1 of artilieial assistance to eke out the means uhieh 

 the domestic supplies provide. Till within the la 

 Ordinary plan of doing this was by means "I ' compo. . which, 



by the aid of a little farm yard dung as a ferment, materials less liable 

 to decomposition were induced to rot together; i;i which, too, the 

 waste products of other processes were economised and turned to use. 

 What a number of things may thu . be turmd to good account is 

 apparent from the mere, list of them : Animal, ve.-etable, and mineral 

 substances existing UIMHI th. in in ; roots, hedge clippings, and t'.-ilKn 

 leaves; couch gross, fern leaves, moss, river and sea weeds, B< . 

 turf from ditches, lanes, and hedge-rows ; saw-dust, spent hark, and 

 peat, when properly decomposed. Many of these contain 

 ingredients in larger proportion ih 



them ore equally rich in the mineral constituents of plants. Animal 

 substances, such as carcasses, blood, bones, fat, blnU.i i . 

 sprats, and various shell fish, are, in particular places, to 1 

 had abundantly. They all contain nitrogen, and so are capable of 

 forming ammonia in larger quantity than our highly valued I'm 

 dung. Mineral substances also arc available : earth from hedges, 

 scourings of ditches, banks, ponds, &<:., containing a large share of vege- 

 table matter, and road-scrapings ore also elements of composts. Jlany 



