456 APPENDIX. 



surface. Its good qualities are best preserved by lying in large 

 heaps, and if under cover so much the better. 



The stercorary is the most effectual method for preserving barn- 

 dung, and it is believed that every Farmer will find his money well 

 expended in the erection of this receptacle for the contents of that 

 part of his barnyard, which is not used in the Spring. The stereo - 

 rary may serve for a sheep-fold during Winter, and will thus answer 

 a twofold purpose. It may be, for instance, forty feet in length, six- 

 teen in breadth, and of suitable height. The floor is to be made of a 

 layer of clay, with the surface smoothly paved with small stones, and 

 highest in the middle, so that the juices of the dung may run off to 

 the sides, where a gutter receives this liquid, and carries it into a 

 reservoir, sunk at one end, into which a pump is to be fixed to raise 

 the liquid and throw it back over the heap. The floor, gutter, and 

 reservoir are on a plan similar to those of a cider-press. The liquid 

 that runs from the heap is the most valuable part, and should never 

 be lost : This plan is therefore calculated to preserve it: and, for the 

 purpose of absorbing the whole of it, any dry vegetable matter, or 

 rich earth, may be laid over the heap, and this liquid thrown on that, 

 which will serve to convert the whole into good manure. The juices 

 of the soluble and gaseous parts of the excrements of cattle, together 

 with the stale, are what principally afford nutriment for growing 

 plants; and every mean by which these can be saved, by their being 

 absorbed in other substances, of rich earthy or vegetable matter, 

 would seem to be well worthy of attention. We will next designate 

 what is usually considered the methods most proper for the applica- 

 tion of dung. 



Where lands are in grasses of the fibrous-rooted kinds, it is the 

 generally-received opinion of the best Cultivators, that barn-dung, as 

 well as manure of every other kind, should be applied as a top- 

 dressing, that is, by spreading it on the surface, but that for tap- 

 rooted grasses, or those whose roots extend deeply, as well as for all 

 grain and root-crops, this manure should be buried in the soil, at 

 such depths as are best suited to the nature of the roots of the plants 

 to be cultivated. The operation of barn-dung, and of all vegetable 

 and animal substances used in manure, seems to be this : Jf laid at a 

 certain depth beneath the surface of the soil, in the progress of their 

 decomposition their soluble parts pass into the form of gas, or vapor, 

 and of course rise to the surface, and in their ascent are more or less 

 absorbed by the roots of the plants; on the contrary, if these ma- 

 nures be laid on the surface, these soluble parts, in the progress of 

 decomposition, never become aeriform, but are washed downwards, 

 in their liquid state, where they are in like manner absorbed by the 

 roots of the plants. This is probably as correct an explanation as 

 can be given of the effect of these manures. It is well known that 

 ground, long used as a graveyard, becomes very fertile, notwithstand- 

 ing the substances, which are the cause of such fertility, are laid at 

 a very great depth. 



It has been held by some English Writers, that barn-dung should 

 be well voted previous to its application as a manure ; but this opin- 

 ion is rejected by Sir Humfihrey Dcrvy y one of the most scientific 

 Agriculturists of Greatbritain; and also by Arthur Young, Esq. Mr. 

 Du~vy contends, that this manure may in most instances be as well 

 applied fresh as in any other way, by its being laid at a proper depth 

 beneath the surface, and that in scarcely any instance is it advisable 

 that it should undergo more than the first stage of decomposition be- 

 fore it is used. When well roted it is, however, more efficacious for 

 % single crop ; but its use is of much shorter duration, It seems, 



