264 VALUE OF FRESH AND MADE MANURES. 



accrues to the farmer in forcin<T his crops, will often induce him to 

 use manure that has ripened in the pit or stance. 



In warm and moist countries, as may be conceived, it is almost 

 matter of indifference whether the dung be put into the ground quite 

 fresh, or in a state of decomposition further advanced ; its decom- 

 position, aided by the heat of the climate, is always effected rapidly 

 enough. But it is otherwise in cold climates, where the tempera- 

 ture which excites and maintains vegetation is often of short dura- 

 tion, and must at once be taUen advantage of. During a great part 

 of the year, the ground is so cold that organic substances buried in 

 it are preserved with comparatively little change. Under such 

 climatic conditions, there is no doubt that manures in a state of for- 

 wardness are to be preferred. It is probably from such motives 

 that the extensive use of liquid manures in Switzerland is derived, 

 the action of these being, so to speak, inmiediate ; and it is with 

 such manure that in Flanders the cultivation of various plants that 

 are of great value in manufacturing processes, is carried on. 



When the fermentation of manure has been managed discreetly, 

 and all the precautious requisite to prevent the dissipation of ammo- 

 niacal salts and the loss of soluble elements have been taken, there 

 is the immense advantage attending it, besides obtaining immediate 

 action, that a manure is produced of greater value under a smaller 

 bulk and a less weight. The dimg-heap often loses a third of its 

 bulk in undergoing fermentation, a circumstance which occasions an 

 important saving in carriage. A like savinjj may be pfVet-ted with 

 reference to fresh manures, by drying them in the sun, which I have 

 sometimes seen done ; they are thus reduced to onr-ihird or one- 

 fourth of their original weight, and when the distance to which they 

 have to be carried is great, there may be real advantage in proceed- 

 ing in this way. 



An objection of some moment made to the use of fresh dimg to 

 corn lands is, that it usually contair)S the seeds of wreds and the 

 eggs of insects which notliin;r but putrefa<-tion will destroy. This 

 objection of course loses all its weight when the land that is ma- 

 nured is to receive a crop which admits of hoeing ; and the custom 

 which obtains with us at Bcchelbronn of using manure in every 

 state of decomposition to the first crop in the rotation, is a guaran- 

 tee that fresh maiuire is really productive of no inconvenience in 

 practice. Another dilhculty pointed out by Thaer, is that of cover- 

 ing in dung so huig and full ot' straw as fresh stable or stall dung. 

 This objection disappears when the manure is laid in furrows formed 

 by the plough, as is done in Alsace, by which means the covering in 

 is effected by a single operation. 



If opinions are still divided upon the question whether dung ought 

 to be eu)j»loyed before or after fermentation, tbey are no less so as to 

 the mode of spreading it, and th»' best periods for laying it on the 

 land. It may be imagined that the conclusion come to upon the first 

 question necessarily inllucnces the «)pini(Mis held on the second. 

 Those who believe that manure may be advantageously used in the 

 etate in which it comes from the stables, are altogether indifferent io 



