5SS 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 10 



perhaps half its bulk; but it is considered peculiar- 

 ly favorable, and even necessary to the growth oi 

 that crop, as its power men vegetation advances i 

 so rapidly as to pul it promptly our of the reach ol 

 the fly.* When, how process is carried 



too fur, and the manure has been frequently turn- 

 ed — until, as said by some farmers, l blaa 

 becomes black snuff;' it has then, indeed, been 

 found so completely deprived of its nutritive sap as 

 to produce no effect whatever upon the land. On 

 the whole, there is reason to believe 'that there is, 

 in the management ol dung, as in all things else, 

 a certain point which constitutes the maxim; m oi 

 profit, beyond which there is nothing but ' , i 



The management of anure, upon 



light and heavy soils, should differ accoi 

 the use intended to be made of it; for it i 

 rally employed in differ ins and ap] 



different crops. For light land, on which the 

 most common crop in the commencement of a ro- 

 tation is usually turni] s, ii requires to he highlj 

 fermented; because, if not incorporated with the 

 ground in that soft and sappy state in which good 

 spit-dung ought to be, the plan's will not receive 

 such immediate nourishment as will serve to push 

 them into rough leaf before the attacks of the fly. 

 But for clays and other strong sods generally, 

 whether Ihe manure be applied to fallow under 

 preparation for an autumn sowing of wheat, or in 

 the early part of the spring for beans, as it has a 

 longer time to deeompe.se in the soil, a less degree 

 Of putrefaction is necessary than for I u mips. Po- 

 tatoes, also, though grown on light land, may be 

 raised by the use of fresh unfermenled manure. 

 because they do not require the same nutriment as 

 turnips during their earlier growth, and because 

 they are also supposed to be assisted by the action 

 of long dung in opening the soil J 



When, therefore, a firmer looks chiefly to a 

 prompt, return through immediate benefit to the 

 next crop, the manure should be thoroughly rot- 

 ted to the condition of spit-dung; 'but if his views 

 extend to subsequent crops, or if the soil be of a 

 nature to receive benefit by the fermentation and 

 heat produced by the application of long dung,' 

 then it has been affirmed 'that preference should 

 be given to that in a fresh state, provided it be 

 immediately ploughed in and totally covered. '§ 



This, however, although the opinion of the au- 

 thor whom we have just quoted, as well as that ol 

 several eminent practical men, should yet be re- 

 ceived with a certain degree of caution; for be- 



* Young, indeed, says, 'that long stable-muck has 

 been carried out from turnips in March, without any 

 stirring, and that the crops were as good as from short 

 muck, though the growth of the plan's was not so 

 quick; butthen 15 loads of the former were laid on in- 

 stead of 12 of the latter. Long and short dung have also 

 been mixed together, and laid upon strong land, with 

 good effect. It was carted from the yard late in the 

 spring, forming heaps, which in three weeks were turn- 

 ed over, and, within a fortnight more, were laid upon 

 turnips; but the practice is not common, nor very like- 

 ly to be generally followed. — Norfolk Report, chap, xi. 

 sect, iii.; Essex do., pp. 229, 240. 



t Surveys of Bedfordshire, p. 506— 5 OS; East Lo- 

 thian, p. 159. 



^General Report of Scotland. 



§ A Treatise on the Connexion between Agriculture 

 and Chemistry, by the Earl of Dundonald, p. 98. 



sides ihe, objsetions already stated to manure of 

 this description, there is such difficulty in plough- 

 ing in iii- straw, that much of it is necessarily left 

 upon the surlace of the soil, where its virtues are 



•eat measure lost; or. if buried deep in cold 

 and retentive clays, it becomes locked up in the 

 'ami, and its fermentation is prevented. In order 

 to bring it into such a state of decomposition as 

 we have already stated, the information which we 

 have collected on the subject may be thus con- 

 densed. 



On most farms the yards arc commmonly cleared 

 towards the middle, or the hitter end, of April; 



i in some this docs not prevent the work 



ard during the winter, 



and thus preparing some of the manure in success 



sion: al whatever period it may however be done, 



■; is the most advisable method oi' pro- 



The most usual mode is to carry out the dung 

 i:i ui the yards, either to some waste spot adjacent 

 the field 1o which it. is 

 -d, and there to leave it exposed 

 to tii" weather, without any other pre| aration than 

 it over, until it be completely rotted, or 

 ! until such time as it ma) bethought requisite 

 to lay it upon the land. The better plan, however, 

 is to lay a bottom for the dungstead, consisting of 

 a bed formed of clay or sand, ditch and road sera- 

 mar!, or any similar substance, which must 

 I! mixed and pulverized, and then spread to 

 b and. breadth which it is sup* 

 heap will cover, and from a loot to 18 

 i,l it raised at the sides and sloped 

 as to absorb the liqi or which 

 from ihe dung during the healing and pu- 

 ii which always lake place while it lies in 

 ap. The yard dung is then carted out, and 

 shot upon the bottom; one end oi' which is at first 

 let' lower than the other, in order to render the as- 

 cent easy to the cattle — a practice, however, as we 

 shall afterwards see, which is not always to be 

 commended. It is then thrown slantingly up un- 

 til the heap rises to four or five feet above the foun- 

 dation; after which careful farmers raise a coating 

 oi' the same materials as the bottom, a couple of 

 feet in thickness, which is spread round the heap 

 to its full height: or, when the mixen is raised up- 

 on the field in which it is intended to be applied, 

 the soil may be ploughed around the heap, and 

 plastered or faced up against the sides by the back 

 of a spade. The dung is then allowed to duly 

 ferment, which may be seen by its sinking, and 

 easily ascertained by thrusting a few sticks, of the 

 common size of broom handh s, into different pans 

 of the heap, as well as by its steaming and offen- 

 sive smell, which, however, subsides when it is 

 thoroughly decomposed. Dark-colored putrid wa- 

 so draineu from the heap, and there can be 

 little doubt that this discharge of vapor and fluid 

 will, tf permitted, occasion I he loss oi' some por- 

 tion of the virtues of the manure; in order to 

 guard against which, a thin coat, oi' the same 

 kind as (he sides, and made as fine as possible, is 

 laid regularly and lightly over it, so that its weight 

 may press equally, and not. heavily — for, if left in 

 lumps, their cumbrous weight would force the 

 dung into holes, and prevent its regular fermenta- 

 tion. 



By this covering of the dung with a due pro- 

 per; ion of earth, or of other coating, that Joss ia 



