Book VI. FARM-YARD DUNG. V48 



4583. In the amplication of farm-yard dung to land under tillage, particular attentioa 

 is paid to the cleanness of the soil ; and to use it at the time when, from the pulverisation 

 of the ground, it may be most intimately mixed with it. The most common time 

 of manuring with farm-yard dung is, therefore, either towards the conclusion of the 

 fallowing/ operations, or immediately before the sowing of fallow crops. If no dung 

 can be procured but what is made from the produce of the farm, it will seldom be 

 possible to allow more than ten or twelve tons to every acre, when the land is managed 

 under a regular course of white and green crops ; and it is thought more advantageous 

 to repeat this dose at short intervals, than to give a larger quantity at once, and at a more 

 distant period in proportion. [General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 517.) Farm-yard 

 dung, it is well known, is greatly reduced in value by being exposed to the atmosphere 

 in small heaps, previous to being spread, and still more after being spread. Its rich 

 juices are exhaled by the sun, or washed away by the rains, and the residuum is com- 

 paratively worthless. This is in an especial manner the case with long fresh dung, the 

 far greater part of which consists of wet straw in an entire state. All careful farmers, 

 accordingly, spread and cover in their dung with the plough, as soon as possible after it 

 is brought on the land. 



4584. The use of fresh dung is decidedly opposite to the practice of the best farmers 

 of turnip soils ; its inutility, or rather injurious effects, from its opening the soil too 

 much, is a matter of experience with every one who cultivates drilled turnips on a large 

 scale. As the whole farm-yard dung, on such land, is applied to the turnip crop, it 

 must necessarily happen that it should be laid on in different stages of putrefaction ; 

 and what is made very late in spring, often after a very slight fermentation, or none at 

 all. The experience of the effect of recent dung is accordingly very general, and the 

 result, in almost every case, is, that the growth of the young plants is slow ; that they 

 remain long in a feeble and doubtful state ; and that they seldom, in ordinary seasons, 

 become a full crop, even though twice the quantity that is given of short muck has been 

 allowed. On the other hand, when the manure is considerably decomposed, the effects 

 are immediate, the plants rise vigorously, and soon put forth their rough leaf, after 

 which, the beetle or fly does not seize on them; and in a few weeks, the leaves become 

 so large, that the plants probably draw the greatest part of their nourishment from the 

 atmosphere. Though it were true, therefore, that more nutritive matter were given out 

 by a certain quantity of dung, applied in a recent state, and allowed to decompose 

 gradually in the soil, than if applied after undergoing fermentation and putrefaction, 

 the objection arising from the slowness of its operation, would, in many instances, be an 

 insuperable one with farmers. But there seems reason to doubt whether fresh strawey 

 manure would ferment much in the soil, after being spread out in so small a quantity as 

 has been already mentioned ; and also, whether, in the warm dry weather of summer, 

 the shallow covering of earth given by the plough would not permit the gaseous matters 

 to escape, to a much greater amount than if fermentation had been completed in a well 

 built covered dunghill. 



4585. Another great objection to the use of fresh farm-yard dung is, that the seeds and 

 roots of those plants w'ith which it commonly abounds, spring up luxuriantly on the 

 land ; and this evil nothing but a considerable degree of fermentation can obviate. 

 The mass of materials consists of the straw of various crops, some of the grains of 

 which, after all the care that can be taken, will adhere to the straw; of the dung of 

 different animals voided, as is often the case with horses fed on oats, with the grain 

 in an entire state ; and of the roots, stems, and seeds of the weeds that had grown among 

 the straw, clover, and hay, and such as had been brought to the houses and fold-yards 

 with the turnips and other roots given to live stock. 



4586. The degree of decomposition to which farm-yard dung should arrive, before it can 

 be deemed a profitable manure, must depend on the texture of the soil, the nature of 

 the plants, and the time of its application. In general, clayey soils, as more tenacious 

 of moisture, and more benefited by being rendered incohesive and porous, may receive 

 manure less decomposed than well pulverised turnip soils require. Some plants, too, 

 seem to thrive better witli fresh dung than others, potatoes in particular ; but all the 

 small-seeded plants, such as turnips, clover, carrots, &c. which are extremely tender in 

 the early stage of their growth, require to be pushed forward into luxuriant vegetation 

 with the least possible delay, by means of short dung. 



4587. The season ivhen manure is applied, is also a material circumstance. In spring 

 and summer, whether it be used for corn or green crops, the object is to produce an im- 

 mediate effect, and it should therefore be more completely decomposed than may be 

 necessary, when it is laid on in autumn for a crop whose condition will be almost 

 stationary for many months. {Sup. Ency. Brit. art. Agr.) 



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