198 APPLICATION DURING AUTUMN. 



which the oxygen of the air was necessary, and 

 of which it would have been partially or wholly 

 deprived in the soil : fresh manure might have re- 

 mained unfermented, and therefore useless under 

 these circumstances. 



M. Boussingault has an interesting paper on this 

 point. He says ; " If opinions are divided on the 

 question whether manure should be used before or 

 after fermentation, they are not less so as regards 

 the manner of spreading it, and the proper season 

 of carrying it into the field. Those who are con- 

 vinced that the dung should be used as it comes 

 from the stall, are quite indifferent as to the time 

 of carting it; the most convenient time may be 

 chosen, which is no small advantage, and this is 

 our practice at Bechelbronn, where it is carried out 

 as soon as possible. The fields to be fertilized for 

 spring cultivation are manured in the winter, when 

 the frost permits. The dung, at first laid in little 

 heaps at regular distances, is afterwards spread as 

 equally as possible, generally on the snow, — a 

 practice in which we have never found any incon- 

 venience. The method adopted by certain culti- 

 vators of keeping dung in great masses, with the 

 view of spreading it when the tillage takes place, 

 is certainly wrong ; the spots in which the heaps 

 are laid are too highly manured, and the plan is 

 adapted for fresh dung only. The custom of leav- 

 ing it for months, perhaps, spread on the land, and 



