r33 ] 



F A R M E RS' R E G I S T E R. 



733 



tlie qiiMtiiily ofwator \o run iii it is considerable, a 

 comliiit is iimile wiili siJe stones aiul covers; olh- 

 erwise the stones are thmwn in withont placinir, 

 beLntininir wit!» the huijesi, none of which are the 

 eizeol" a arm's fisi, and linishina'willi the smaller, 

 which are (reed from sand hy heino; thrown into a 

 riildle. Wiien bronirht within ten inciiesoi'the 

 si.irli\ce at tlie furrows, the upper part of tliestoncs 

 is consohdated and closed too^eiher by means ol' a 

 hammer. It often happens that there are not ten 

 inches of soil at the (arrows, in which case t!ie 

 trench is further filled up with the sand extracted 

 from the small stones, and as a ploiiirh passing 

 through thiscan in noway injure lb'' drain, it may 

 salely, if requisite, be carried up to the very sur- 

 Ikce. Constructed in titis waj-, it is not easy to 

 conceive how a dram should ever become inope- 

 rative. 



It is obvious tliat, that by tiiis mode of draininir 

 the defect arising froni a retentive subsoil, may be 

 most completely remedied; to obviate the evil of 

 shallowness of soil would require, in addition. 

 trenchinfT to the depth of ten or twelve inches. 

 The expense of the operation iTiust in every situ- 

 ation vary with the distance of the materials and 

 the facility of obtaining them. Here thedrainaire 

 of an acre of land may he completed, according 

 to the distance (rom the quarry and other circum- 

 stances, at the rate of from £4 to £6; an outlay 

 very trifling, when compared with the extent and 

 permanence of the benefit derived from it. On 

 the estates in this county belonging to his Grace 

 the Duke of Portland, surfiice draining has for 

 several 3'ears been carried on to a great extent. 

 These drains are constructed with single arched 

 tiles, upon which the soil is returned and the sub- 

 soil is scattered on the surface. It is considered 

 that by this means his Grace has accomplished a 

 very profitable amelioration. Except in very 

 rare cases, the drain made with tiles is less expen- 

 sive than that made with stones, and where the 

 soil is easily permeable by water, the one may 

 answer as well as the other; but where the soil is 

 tenacious, one would suppose that the access to 

 the conduit formed by the tile must be difficult. 

 In any kind of soil, however, it is not possil)le that 

 a drain Ibrmed in this way can be as efficacious, as 

 one (lone as above described with the li-eestone 

 rubbish, where an open pervious mass may be 

 brought up if necessary to the vejy surface. * 



3faimre. 



Of this, almost the only source here is the farm- 

 yard, and, considering its value, and how much 

 that value depends on its treatment, it does not 

 yet receive all the attention it deserves. On a 

 farm of this extent, on which there has never in 

 one year been above three acres of turnips and 

 four of potatoes, it is perhaps a good deal to have 

 manured eighteen acres in a season, from the 

 farm-yard and the servants' cottages; and yet there 

 is no doubt a great deal more might have been 

 accomplished, as respects both quantity and qual 

 ity. If exposed to rain, the most soluble and 

 richest parts are carried off. Observe the luxnri- 



*It is to be feared that the draining done by the 

 Duke of Portland, in Ayrshire, and executing ijy bis 

 Grace in Northumberland, will, in a few years, be en- 

 tirely useless, owing to no stones being put in the 

 drains over the tiles. 



ant vegetation w(ierever the (iark liquor from a 

 (bmirhill touches, and the loss may lie esiimaied. 

 !f allowed to come into a strons heat, ilssui)- 

 stance may be seen passing into the air. The 

 only part of it that requires rolling or fermenta- 

 tion to render it soluble and fii to become food liir 

 the roots of plants, is the woody fiore of veue- 

 tables; the slower, however, and more confined 

 the manner in which this process goes on. there 

 will be the less loss. Some practical fiirmes liave 

 advocated the use of dunir in its recent state, 

 others Itave said il shoiild not be used lill well rot- 

 ted. But if in the process of retting it palpably 

 undergoes waste, the place in whi(;h ii must with 

 most advantage be rotted, is under the soil ot the 

 field. ThTe is then no loss that can be avoided. 

 The fallacy in this controversy arises, it is sus- 

 pected, from not advertinsf to the circumstance, 

 that equal bulks of recent and of rotted dung con- 

 tain very difi'erent quantities of the fiiod of plants. 

 In the latter it it" more concentrated, and in a state 

 fitSerto be immediately consumed by their roots. 

 But thetcorrect way of stating the question is this: 

 having a given quantity of recent dung to apply 

 to a given extent of land, is it not better to plough 

 it down in iis recent state, than previously to allow 

 if to ferment and rot in a hea\)l In the first case, 

 there is no loss; the decoini)Osifion goes on as 

 slowly as possible, and all the elements of the 

 substances of which it is composed are retained in 

 the soil as they are setli'ee. In the second, the de- 

 composition is rapid, and a much larger propor- 

 tion of matter will be found to have flown off: 

 than could easily be imagined. Any person with- 

 out the aid of knowledge of chemical principles 

 mav satisfy himself on the point by an easy ex- 

 periment. Take two acres of ground ol' equal 

 quality: take twenty tons of recent dung, which 

 apply to one of them: take twenty tons of the 

 same dung and put it up in heap till it become a 

 black solid mass, and then apply it to the other 

 acre, balance the produce of the one against the 

 produce of the other, at the end of the fourth year,. 

 and if the experiment be well conducted the re- 

 sult ought to be satisfactory. A knowledge of 

 chemical principles leads to the inference, that 

 dung ought to be used in its recent state, and any 

 disappointment which, in practice, may have at- 

 tended the adoption of this inference, will be 

 found to have arisen, not from a defect in the the- 

 ory, but from a want of due observation of circum- 

 stances in its application. If immediate eflect be 

 absolutely requisite, as m raising turnips, then rot- 

 ted duns must be used; but care should be taken 

 in preparincr it, to prevent its heat from rising high, 

 or any of it from escaping, either in a liquid or in 

 a gaseous state. This is best accomplished by 

 cornpression, and by covering well up v/ith earth. 

 To increase the manure raised on the farm is a 

 constant aim. A laise portion of the straw is 

 consumed by the cattle and horses, and no hay is 

 ever sold. A considerable quantity of vegetable 

 matter is collected from plantations and waste 

 places, and with this, and the refuse straw, the 

 farm-court and the approaches to it are kept lit- 

 tered so as to collect the droppings from the cattle 

 and horses. The whole is occasionally carried off 

 to the dung heap, and new litter applied. It is 

 surprising how much dun<r may be produced by 

 constantly collectins all refuse, which, if allowed 

 to lie, would soon disappear. The horses are ne- 



