90 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



there are other manures which are often used as top dressings. 

 Little need be said of the comparative value of animal sub- 

 stances. They have been artificially applied, from the greatest 

 antiquity. They are mentioned by Homer, which distinctly 

 shows that their value was understood a thousand years be- 

 fore the Christian era. There is every reason to believe, more- 

 over, from other ancient authors, that great care was exercised 

 in preserving and applying manures to fertilize the earth. Nor 

 is there any reason to suppose that agriculture, as an art, was 

 not carried to as great perfection among the ancient Romans, 

 as it has been, either as an art or as a science, among the mod- 

 erns. For it is a curious fact, that Roman agricultural 

 literature far exceeded the modern in extent and richness, till 

 within the last fifteen or twenty years. And it would be easy, 

 if this were the proper place, to trace the points of resemblance 

 between the Romans and ourselves, not only in general modes 

 of cultivation, but also in the details of agricultural life, and in 

 the tools they used. 



It is still a question, whether the real value of stable manure 

 is not as great on the surface, if applied at a time when the 

 rich gases are not lost by evaporation. It is, perhaps, better, 

 if lands admit of ploughing without too great expense, to cover 

 such manures with the soil. But we have already seen how 

 this gaseous matter may be saved from loss by evaporation, by 

 the addition of charcoal or plaster. If this loss is prevented, 

 top dressing is by far the least expensive, when the object is 

 simply to renovate the soil, and improve the quality and in- 

 crease the quantity of grass. 



In a case which we have in mind, a very poor, worn out 

 grass lot, was top dressed with fourteen ordinary cartloads of 

 good stable manure to the acre. The quantity of grass was 

 increased four fold. Clover and Timothy came in as luxuri- 

 antly as on any new laid piece. If the top dressing were re- 

 peated once in five or six years, there would be no danger of 

 exhaustion, though there would be an advantage in loosening 

 the earth with the plough. But the use of stable manure 

 should be confined mostly to mowing land. On closely fed 

 pastures it would be injudicious, from its exposure to the sun. 

 On these, ashes or plaster would be better. 



