92 ESSEX SOCIETY. 



these make an exceedingly rich manure. A most intelli- 

 gent gentleman connected with a wool factory informs us 

 that a cord of matter collected at the establishment, is worth at 

 least five or six cords of the best stable manure, for a top dress- 

 ing. This we cannot doubt, for here are the blood, the wool, 

 pieces of the skin of the animal, a little lime, and many other 

 substances, all collected together. A fermentation takes place, 

 by which the richest gases are formed. Such a compost heap, 

 with an addition of loam and mud, would be invaluable for a 

 top dressing. But though in most cases, all these substances 

 cannot be procured, many of them can, and should be saved 

 by every one who is desirous of improving his land. Those 

 who are near the sea, or near the market, can procure an abun- 

 dance of fish to add to the compost. Nothing is better for soils 

 than this. A little lime added to the heap, causes its rapid 

 and thorough decomposition. Ashes should also be added. 

 When additions of manure are made, they should be covered 

 with mud or loam, to prevent waste. 



We need not enter more minutely into the details of form- 

 ing the compost heap. It is sufficient to say, in a word, that 

 every thing capable of fermentation, should be added to it. 

 The lower layer should be of loam or mud. Nothing is more 

 common among farmers, on the death of a horse or any other 

 animal, than to throw the body away. It is estimated by some, 

 that the body of a single horse, when divided and mixed with 

 peat mud and loam, will make a compost worth fifteen or twen- 

 ty cords of the best and richest manure. This is, perhaps, too 

 high an estimate ; but animal substances ferment rapidly, or 

 rather they may be said to putrify, without fermenting, so quick 

 is their decomposition. If leaves, grasses, moss, straw and 

 other substances of like nature, are used, lime will be indispen- 

 sable, in causing their rapid decay. When these are well fer- 

 mented, the heap should be thrown over, and if made long and 

 narrow, so as to expose the greater surface to the air, it will be 

 better. Whenever such a compost has been used as a top dress- 

 ing, it has produced the most astonishing effects. Many ex- 

 periments have shown that this is the best way of using such a 

 compost heap. In the fertile county of Hertford, in England, 



