24 MIXED MANURES, CONSIDERED 



dung ; and it has the advantage of not subsiding so much as those 

 materials. Wherever it can be obtained, it may be applied to all soils ; 

 and when obtained from towns still under the old system, it may rank 

 next to nightsoil and bones. 



Composts of vegetable or vegeto-animal matter and earth are of 

 various kinds. The most common in gardens is that produced by 

 rotten leaves or vegetable refuse mixed with sand or with some other 

 earth, or with stable-dung : composts of bones are likewise formed in 

 this manner, and also of peat, where that material abounds. Peat 

 composts have been already mentioned. 



Mixed manure in a liquid state consists of the urine of animals, 

 soap-suds, the foul water of kitchens and other offices, waste surface 

 or rain water, and drainings of dunghills. The most advantageous 

 way of employing it is by applying it, after being properly diluted and 

 fermented, directly to growing crops. It may also be profitably em- 

 ployed by throwing it on heaps of vegetable matter, such as moss, 

 leaves, straw, or any vegetable refuse matter whatever not containing 

 woody matter of several years' growth. In this way, Jauffret, a French 

 agriculturist, proposed to create immense quantities of manure by fer- 

 menting weeds and other refuse collected by hedge- sides, or on com- 

 mons or wastes. The fermentation of such matters does not take place 

 without the aid of animal manure or stable-dung ; but, when once 

 commenced, it can be continued for an indefinite period by adding to 

 the heap. If the liquid manure and the excrementitious matter accu- 

 mulated in every large establishment, independently altogether of the 

 stable manure, were collected and fermented, we have little doubt it 

 would suffice for all the kitchen-garden crops ; the refuse of these 

 crops and the weeds of the garden being added and fermented. It is 

 highly probable that every individual animal produces as much manure 

 as would raise the vegetables necessary for its support, because in the 

 nourishment of animals, as of plants, nothing is annihilated, but 

 merely changed : what escapes into the atmosphere is counterbalanced 

 by what is absorbed from it ; and what is embodied in the animal 

 during life, is restored to the soil at its death. 



Application of Manures. Too much manure is injurious to all crops 

 whatever, by increasing the proportion of watery matter, and by pro- 

 ducing such an exuberance of growth as to prevent the maturation of 

 the parts, the formation of blossom-buds, and the setting of fruit. It 

 is particularly injurious to corn-crops ; producing more sap than 

 can be properly elaborated in the leaves, and hence disease. In this 

 case the evil is counteracted by the application of lime or common salt. 



All mineral manures ought to be employed in a dry and powdery state, 

 and if possible, when the soil is equally dry and powdery ; and all moist 

 manures, when the soil is somewhat drier than the manure. Other 

 circumstances being the same, spring is better than autumn for 

 applying manures, because the rains of winter might wash them away, 

 &c. ; but, as a rule, the proper time is immediately before sowing or 

 planting the crop. Calm weather is better than windy weather, and 

 bulky manure ought no sooner to be laid on than buried in the soil. 



