742 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



plough serves in no degree to reduce them, or at least very imperceptibly. It may be 

 added that these lumps likewise inclose innumerable seeds of weeds, which cannot vege- 

 tate unless brought under the influence of the sun and air near the surface. The diligent 

 use, therefore, of the harrow and roller, followed by careful hand-picking, is indispensably 

 necessary to the perfection of the fallow process. {^General Report of Scotland, vol. iv. 

 p. 419.) 



4577. When effectually reduced to fine tilth, and thoroughly cleaned from roots and weeds, the fallow is 

 ploughed end-long into gathered ridges or lands, usually fifteen or eighteen feet broad ; which are set out in 

 the manner already described, in treating of the striking of furrows or feiring. If the seed is to be drilled, 

 the lands or ridges are made of such widths as may suit the construction of the particular drill-machine that 

 is to be employed. After the land has been once gathered by a deep furrow, proportioned to the depth of 

 the cultivated soil, the manure is laid on, and evenly spread over the surface, whether muck, lime, marl, 

 or compost. A second gathering is now given by the plough ; and this being generally the furrow upon 

 which the seed is sown, great care is used to plough as equal as possible. After the seed is sown and the 

 land thoroughly harrowed, all the inter-furrows, furrows of the headlands, and oblique or gaw furrows, are 

 carefully opened up by the plough, and cleared out by the spade, as already mentioned, respecting the 

 first or winter ploughing. 



4578. The expense of fallowing must appear, from what has been said, to be very con- 

 siderable, when land has been allowed to become stocked with weeds ; but if it be kept 

 under regular management, corn alternating with drilled pulse or green crops, the sub- 

 sequent returns of fallow will not require nearly so much labor. In common cases, 

 from four to six ploughings are generally given, with harrowing and rolling between, as 

 may be found necessary ; and, as we have already noticed, the cultivator may be em- 

 ployed to diminish this heavy expense. But it must be considered, that upon the manner 

 in which the fallow operations are conducted, depend not only the ensuing wheat crop, 

 but in a great measure all the crops of the rotation. (Supp. to Encyc. Brit. art. Agr. 128.) 



Sect. III. Of the general Management of Manures- 



4579. The manures of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin have been already described, 

 and their operation explained (2161.) But a very few of these substances can be ob- 

 tained by farmers in general ; whose standard resources are farm- yard dung and lime, 

 and composts of these with earth. It is on the management of these that we propose to 

 deliver the practice of the best British farmers. 



SuBSECT. 1. On the Management of Farm-yard Dung. 



4580. The basis offarm-yard dung is straw, to which is added in its progress through 

 the farm-yard the excrementitious substances of live stock. From every ton of dry 

 straw, about three tons of farm-yard dung may be obtained, if the after-management be 

 properly conducted ; and, as the weight of straw per acre runs from one ton to one and 

 a half, about four tons of dung, on an average of the different crops, may be produced 

 from the straw of every acre under corn. {^Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii.) Hence (it 

 may be noticed) the great importance of cutting corn as low as possible; a few inches 

 at the root of the stalk weighing more than double the same length at the ear. 



4581. The conversion of straw into farm-yard dung in the farmery, is thus effected : 

 The straw is served out to cattle and horses in the houses and fold-yards, either as 

 provender or litter, and commonly for both purposes ; turnips in winter, and green 

 clover in summer are given to the stock both in the houses and yards ; on this food the 

 animals pass a great deal of urine, and afford the means of converting the straw into 

 a richer manure than if it were eaten alone. All the dung from the houses, as they are 

 cleaned out, is regularly spread over the yards, in which young cattle are left loose where 

 litter is usually allowed in great abundance; or over the dunghill itself, if there be one 

 at hand. This renders the quality of the whole mass more uniform ; and the horse- 

 dung, which is of a hot nature, promotes the decomposition of the woody fibres of the 

 straw. 



4582. The preparation of the contents of the farm-yard for laying on the land, is by 

 turning it over ; or, what is preferable, carting it out to a dunghill. The operation of 

 carting out is usually performed during the frosts of winter : it is then taken to the 

 field in which it is to be employed, and neatly built in dunghills of a square form, three 

 or four feet high, and of such a length and breadth as circumstances may require. 

 What is laid up in this manner early in winter, is commonly sufficiently prepared for 

 turnips in June ; but if it be not carried from the straw-yards till spring, it is necessary to 

 turn it once or oftener, for the purpose of accelerating the decomposition of the strawey 

 part of the mass. "When dung is applied to fallows in July or August, preparatory to 

 autumn sown wheat, a much less degree of putrefaction will suffice than for turnips : 

 a clay soil, on which alone fallows should ever be resorted to, not requiring dung so 

 much rotted as a finely pulverized turnip soil ; and besides, as the wheat does not need 

 all the benefit of the dung for some time, the woody fibre is gradually broken down in 

 the course of the winter, and the nourishment of the plants continued till spring, or 

 later, when its effects are most beneficial. 



