Chap. VIII. O F M A N U R E S. i^ 



CHAP. VIII. 



Of MANURES. 



THE particular application of dung, we fliall have occaflon to 

 mention hereafter. Like other compofts, it adts by fermen- 

 tation ; crumbling and dividing the earth very much ; and there- 

 fore it is of moft fervice in the old hufbandry, in which the earth is 

 not fo much pulverifed by tillage, as in the new. The fermenting 

 quality of dung, is chiefly owing to the falts v/herewith it abounds : 

 but a veiy little of thefe falts, fays Mr. Tull, applied alone to a few 

 roots of almOil: any plant, will kill it : fo ver)' fiery and acrimonious 

 is their nature. This defetft is in fome degree remedied, either by 

 keeping the dimg till it grows mild, or by mixing it with the earth 

 fome time before the grain is fown. It is then of fuch fervice to 

 mofl corn-fields, that little good can be done without it in the 

 common hufbandry. 



Lime is frequently mixed with dung, and becomes an ufeful 

 addition, not only as a manure, but as it prevents the dung's being 

 a neft for infedls, fo m.uch as it would otherwife be ; and likewife 

 helps to kill many of the feeds of weeds that are generally in it ; 

 tho' fome, for example charlock-feeds, will remain unhurt for years 

 together, amidll: all the fermentation of a dunghill, and ll:ili retain 

 their vegetative power ; when at the fame time that continued fer- 

 mentation has been fuflicient to deftroy the povrer of the flercora- 

 ceous falts of the dung. 



The adion of the dung's ferment, is generally thought to afford 

 a warmth to the infant plants, in their moil: tender Itage, and the 

 moft rigorous feafon. But this advantage is greatly counter-balanced 

 by the dung's letting water enter its hollows, and thereby becoming, 

 in thofe parts, much colder in frofc, than un-dung'd pulverifed earth. 

 As a confirmation of this, Mr. Tull fays he has feen wheat-plants, in 

 the winter, die, in the very fpits of feemingly well-rotted dung; 

 when un-dung'd drill'd wheat, clofe by, and planted at the fame 

 time, has flouriihed all the fame v/inter. 



By dung we mean only the excrements of animals, and what is 

 ufually coUedled in the offices and dung-yard, which is more or lefs 

 ufeful in proportion to the quantity of falts contained in it. 



The quantity of the food of vegetables made by tillage without 

 dung, is beyond com pari fon greater than that made by dung with- 



D 2 out 



