MAN 



OR, BOTANICAL DICTIONARY. 



MAN 



83 



moderate, and of long continuance: so that a bed of tan, 

 when rightly made, will continue in a moderate temper of 

 heat three or four months ; and when the heat begins to 

 decay, if it be stirred up with a dung-fork, and some fresh 

 tan added to it, the heat will renew again, and will last for 

 some months : so that these beds are by far the most kindly 

 for exotic plants : and whatever plants are plunged into these 

 beds, if they are permitted to root through the bottom of the 

 pots, they will thrive more in one month after, than they did in 

 four months while they were confined to the pots. Many 

 plants that root through the pots into the tan, send forth 

 roots upwards of twelve feet each way, in less than three 

 months; and the plants advance in proportion. After the 

 tan is used for a hot-bed, it may be spread on the ground for 

 manure, and will greatly enrich it; because it is of a warm 

 nature, and will loosen and separate the earth. When this 

 manure is laid upon grass, it should be done soon after 

 Michaelmas, that the rains may wash it into the ground ; for 

 if it be laid on in the spring, it will burn the grass, and, 

 instead of improving, will greatly injure it, at least for that 

 season. Where it is used on corn-land, it should be spread 

 on the surface before the last ploughing, that it may be turned 

 down, for the fibres of the corn to reach it in the spring : for 

 if it lie too near the surface, it will forward the growth of the 

 corn in winter ; but in the spring, when nourishment is chiefly 

 wanted, it will be nearly consumed, and the corn will reap 

 but little advantage from it. Nor will it be proper to have 

 this manure lie too near the roots of any plants ; as in that 

 case it is injurious to most of them, but especially to bulbous 

 and tuberous rooted flowers. But when it is buried just deep 

 enough for the fibres of the roots to reach it in the spring, 

 the flowers have been exceedingly improved by it : and in 

 some places where this manure has been used in kitchen-gar- 

 dens, it has greatly improved the vegetables. Soot, is used 

 as a manure in almost every part of OUT island, where it can 

 be procured in sufficient quantities, and is applied in every 

 different shape, and to all crops. Used in its simple state, it 

 answers best upon light gravel, chalk, or limestone soils : if 

 in a compost, the proper proportions are, two loads of soot, 

 the. same quantity of lime, and ten loads of earth. The soot 

 and earth should be well incorporated, and remain in a heap 

 a week or ten days, then turned, and the lime added in strata 

 as it is turned over; in this state it may remain a month 

 01 six weeks, and be again turned, taking care to break every 

 part of it as small as possible, by working it well with the 

 spade : in a week or two more it will be ready for use. This 

 compost may be applied upon every sort of grain, especially 

 Wheat or Barley ; and if rain fall soon after it is laid on, it 

 will immediately begin to operate. It answers best on light, 

 dry, chalky soils, and in moderately wet seasons : it does little 

 good on strong or wet land, or in very dry seasons, unless 

 sown earlier than usual. The London coal-soot is generally 

 mixed with cork-dust, coal-ashes, or sweepings of the streets : 

 yet even in this adulterated state, it is found to answer much 

 better than country soot from wood. It is an excellant manure 

 for pasture land, in the quantity of forty bushels to an acre. 

 Peat Moss, can only be made useful by fermentation; to 

 bring on which, dry the peat-moss well, break it into small 

 pieces, and lay it on the ground to the thickness of three or 

 four inches. Let the whole of the dung from the stables be 

 laid over it. The moisture of the dung will sink down, and 

 not only correct the acidity, but saturate the peat-moss com- 

 pletely with the valuable properties of the dung. Turn the 

 dunghill over, and mix the dung and peat-moss carefully 

 together, throwing them up lightly; and a gentle fermentation 

 will come on. After a few weeks turn it over again, adding 

 VOL. ii. 73. 



one load of lime to five loads of moss ; the whole being well 

 broken, and accurately mixed. The addition of the lime will 

 hasten the putrefaction of the moss, dissolve the oil contained 

 in it, and give a due degree of activity to the whole. Another 

 way of effecting this is, to pour the urine of cattle, the 

 moisture of the dunghill, soap-leys, and offal of the house, 

 upon peat-moss ; and afterwards to mix it with stable-dung 

 and lime. Ploughing in Green Crops. Many sorts of ve-e- 

 tables may be sown, in order to be ploughed in when they are 

 in full growth, to enrich the land. The ancients ploughed in 

 Lupines for this purpose ; and that practice is still continued 

 in Italy, and the south of France, but they are too tender for our 

 climate ; and we have better plants for the purpose, as Pease, 

 Beans, Buckwheat,Turnips,Vetches,Clover, Spurrey, and other 

 moist and juicy plants, as Mustard, Coleseed, and other large- 

 growing plants, which are cut before they form their seeds, 

 when they are in full bloom, and abound most in sap. When 

 we consider at what small expense 'of prime cost, carriage, 

 and other charges, this manure is obtained, and how com- 

 pletely it smothers the weeds, it is wonderful that it has not 

 more generally been adopted. It might, no doubt, be used 

 on many occasions, in place of a complete summer fallow, as 

 a preparation for wheat : in which case the price of the seeds, 

 which is almost the only expense, would be amply repaid by 

 the saving in the article of labour. Their value might be 

 much improved by laying on a certain quantity of lime, chalk, 

 or marl, according to the nature of the soil; which would 

 tend greatly to hasten the fermentation, and bring the land 

 sooner into a proper state for affording nourishment to the 



succeeding crop of wheat. EARTH. Maiden or untried 



earth, such as is" found six or seven inches deep under turfs 

 or commons, headlands, and by the sides of roads in many 

 places, where it is of good quality, is of inestimable value as 

 a manure for fruit-trees, raising shrubs and trees in nurseries, 

 all sorts of crops in kitchen-gardens, and ornamental flowers, 

 as well as corn and grass. The nurserymen near London 

 send many miles for a loamy maiden earth, as absolutely 

 necessary for their purpose. It is recommended in preference 

 to dung, for both fruit and kitchen gardens, particularly for 

 Asparagus, laid a foot and half deep, without any dung what- 

 soever: mixed with dung or lime, it makes excellent manure 

 for Corn or Turnips. Doubtless there are many sorts of earth 

 that might be employed with success, besides those in common 

 use, if they were examined by men skilled in their respective 

 properties, and applied by persons versed in their operations. 

 Chalk, is in high esteem in the southern counties of Eng- 

 land, where it abounds : its best effects are upon deep soils, 

 which contain no calcareous earth, and is observed to have 

 very little effect upon lands where the substratum is chalk ; 

 and even does mischief, where the soil is thin. When used 

 upon light soils, it is made into compost with earth and dung. 

 When this is well mixed, and duly proportioned, it produces 

 valuable crops ; and the effects continue for many years. 

 The common method of using this compost is, either to lay 

 it upon fallows for wheat, and mix it intimately with the soil, 

 or upon grass, as a top-dressing ; in both cases it answers 

 well; in the latter, it destroys moss-rushes, and all coarse 

 aquatic plants that grow in sour or wet lands ; in the former, 

 it opens and pulverizes the soil, and never fails to produce 

 good crops. Chalk should be broken as small as possible, 

 and in no case ploughed in till its parts are properly separated ; 

 and then it should be completely harrowed in, and well mixed 

 with the soil. Lime. Respecting the proper quantity of lime, 

 it may be observed in general, that the greatest should be 

 used upon the deepest and richest soils ; and the least, upon 

 those that are thin and light. Upon strong clays and deep 



