FARMERS' REGISTER 



[No. 10 



due care, may soon be brought into a fit slate of 

 preparation. Instead, however, of laying it in a 

 regular manner, it is too often suffered to remain 

 in different heaps, in whatever part of the yard it 

 may have been carried from the barn and stables, 

 in which condition it is left during the winter; and 

 being thus imperfectly fermented, its value is, in 

 all such instances, very materially injured: where- 

 as, if spread as equally as possible over the entire 

 yard, the different materials becoming thus well 

 mixed together, their different properties arc blend- 

 ed, and a compact mass of manure is produced of 

 equal quality. 



It should, however, be observed, that there is in 

 every farm-yard a proportion of hot and pungent 

 dung, produced by poultry and pigeons, which 

 should be separately kept for top-dressings, for 

 which purpose it may be found very useful: ii 

 scattered over the common heap, it will, however, 

 have the effeq* of increasing the fermentation and 

 hastening its decomposition. That of swine, also, 

 when thus mixed, has the same eliect; and it was 

 proved, alter repeated trials, when the temperature 

 of the air was 40° of Fahrenheit's thermometer, 

 that of 



Common farm-yard dung was about - 70° 

 A compost of lime, dung, and earth - 55° 



And a portion of swine and ibwl's dung 85 0# 



Care should also be taken that, if any other sub- 

 stances than those commonly employed be added 

 to the heap, they be of such a nature as will ren- 

 der them equally susceptible of decomposition; il 

 not, a small quantity of quicklime will have thai 

 effect; but it should be applied separately. Lime 

 should also be added to all weeds which have ri- 

 pened their seeds, as well as to the roots of docks 

 and other noxious plants, which long retain the 

 power of vegetation, and spirng up when laid upon 

 the land, unless they are destroyed. The better 

 way, indeed, is to place them in a spot away from 

 the yard, and mix them into a compost, as will be 

 hereafier mentioned. 



On what has been said respecting the removal 

 of dung and litter from the farm-yard, it should 

 also be remarked, that there being retained during 

 a long time in the yard is consistent with the com- 

 fort of the cattle and the due preparation of the 

 manure; for if straw be added in sufficient quan- 

 tity to keep the former dry, although the low- 

 er layers of the manure may be in a good state, 

 yet those at the top cannot. Straw, Hung out to 

 the yards in considerable portions, becomes, after 

 being compressed by the trampling of cattle, 

 rather like a well-packed stack than a mass ol 

 dung in a good preparatory state. Except where 

 a considerable stock is soiled, the small quantity of 

 urine and dung made by the animals is barely suf- 

 ficient to cause a slight fermentation in the heap, 

 which brings on fire-tanging after which its origi- 

 nal powers can rarely be restored. To prevent that 

 injury, no measure can be so successfully used as 

 a frequent removal of this unmade dung, especial- 

 ly if the weather be wet at the time; ""for there is 

 in such cases so much straw that has not passed 

 through the entrails of the cattle, as renders it al- 

 most impossible to do injury by an excess of mois- 

 ture:! if; therefore, its removal be deferred to anv 



* Farmer's Magazine, vol. xiv. p. 160. 



tBrown, of Markle, on Agriculture, vol. i. p. 375 



distant period, a proportionately greater length of 

 time must necessarily be devoted to its turning and 

 being got in order for the field. Unless over-year 

 muck be used, if the manure be required for tur- 

 nips, it. will be found necessary to lead it from the 

 farm-yard as soon after Christmas as the weather 

 and the state of the roads will admit of it; or, if 

 wanted for beans, that should be done much ear- 

 lier. No period is more advantageous for this 

 work than a frost; and if much manure is wanted 

 early, it may be led from the yard a second time in 

 the month of February. It should not be forgot- 

 ten that the lighter it is laid upon the heap, the 

 more rapid will be the decomposition; and that it 

 may be retarded by compactness of form, and 

 pressure on the top with a heavy coat of soil. 

 This, however, must depend upon the quantity of 

 litter and of cattle, of the extent of the yards, the 

 state of the weather, the condition of the manure, 

 and the intention to which it is to be applied — all 

 varying according to circumstances, for which no 

 precise rule can he laid down, and which must there- 

 fore he left to the judgement of the farmer. Yard 

 dun;'-, made in winter, il trodden by cattle, will not 

 be (bund to ferment much. It ought, if possible, 

 to be kepi neither too wet nor too dry; if in the 

 former state, it will injure the stock, without for- 

 warding its own decomposition; and if in the lat- 

 ter, it will become mouldy, or fire-fanged, and lose 

 its most, valuable qualities: in order to prepare it in 

 the besl manner, it should therefore be preserved 

 in a mean b< twin the two extremes.* 



Throughout most countries the general plan is, 

 after foddering is over, to carry out the dung from 

 the farm-yard, and to place it in large heaps, in or- 

 der to occasion a due fermentation, and to render 

 it quite rotten before it is laid upon the land. 

 There are, however, many circumstances which 

 render practice .and opinion at variance on this 

 point, in consequence of which a great portion of 

 the manure is carried directly to the fields, and ap- 

 plied to the intended crop, either fresh, or perhaps 

 after being once turned over. The apprehension 

 lhat dung loses much of its virtue by evaporation 

 is not entirely unknown or unattended to; but peo- 

 ple think differently on the subject. Several farm- 

 ers maintain that ploughing in the manure as soon 

 as it is laid upon the land is unnecessary, if not in- 

 jurious; because they say that it absorbs the night- 

 ly dews and other substances from the atmosphere, 

 by which ils quality is improved; that the rain will 

 wash in the salts, while the sun only exhales the 

 water; lhat, when spread upon the surface, the 

 soil also thus becomes gradually impregnated with 

 its juices; and that clay land in particular is ren- 

 dered mellow and free to plough. Thus with 

 many it is the practice to carry out yard-dung in 

 ils long and hot, state, and to suffer it to lie both 

 upon arable and grass land for perhaps a month or 

 six weeks after being spread, before it is ploughed 

 in, though it is acknowledged to encourage the 

 growth of twitch and other weeds.! Others cover 

 it, or, as it is termed in Norfolk, 'scale it in,' with 

 a slight coat of mould. On the other hand, al- 

 though the process of fermentation by disenga- 

 ging a quantity of carbonic acid and ammonia, 



* East Lothian Report, p. 158. 



t Buckinghamshire Report, p. 273; Norfolk do., p- 

 171. 



