C58 



FARMERS REGISTER. 



[No. 11 



A knowledge of chemical principles, indeed, leads 

 to the inference, that dung ought to be used in a 

 recent, state; and it has been thence assumed, 'that 

 any disappointment which, in practice, may have 

 attended the adoption ol that inference, will be 

 found to have arisen, not from a delect in the theo- 

 ry, but from a want of due observation of circum- 

 stances in its application.* Jkit whatever may be 

 found in the writings of scientific agriculturists m 

 favor of unlbrtnented manure, the experience of 

 practical men may, in most cases, excuse a doubt 

 of its expediency.! 



.Regarding the application of straw, which the 

 Professor thinks 'should be ploughed into the soil 

 in a fresh state, and that, in order to facilitate its 

 mixture with the earth, it might be chopped small 

 with a machine,' we deem it almost unnei 

 to add anything more to the observations we have 

 already made, except the record of an experiment 

 made upon dry wheat-straw, which was regularly 

 laid in the hollows of drills, and potato-sets placed 

 over it. The straw and sets were then covered 

 with earth, yet very few of the poiatoes ever ap- 

 peared above ground, and these only towards the 

 end of autumn. When the ground was ploughed 

 up, the straw seemed to have undergone no 

 change, nor did it impart any sensible benefit to 

 subsequent crops. J Had the same straw, howe- 

 ver, been previously subjected to only a moderate 

 degree of fermentation, there can be no doubt thai 

 its effects would have been very different; for, in 

 most soils, potatoes thrive in dung which abounds 

 in litter that has been very slightly fermented. 

 Thus, if a quantity of straw be steeped for some 

 days in water, till it become soft and pliant, and be 

 then buried two or three inches under the surface 

 of the ground,, plants grown over it wili assume a 

 deep verdure; their growth will be vigorous, and 

 this luxuriance will be continued until no traces ol' 

 the straw are left. Sir Humphrey may therefore 

 be right in saying thar, 'though this unferniented 

 straw would produce less effect at. first, yet its in- 

 fluence would be more lasting;' to which we shall 

 only add that, however the land may be thus final- 



*Rsports of Select Farms, in the Farmer's Series of 

 the Library of Useful Knowledge: Kyle in Ayrshire, 

 No. xi. p. 41. 



fin the papers selected from the Correspondence of 

 the Bath and West of England Society, there are que- 

 ries proposed by the Board of Agriculture on several 

 subjects connected with cultivation. The answer by 

 one of their most distinguished members to that regard- 

 ing manure, is as follows: — 



'What are the effects of dung and other manures 

 upon the taste, favor, and wholesomeness of vegeta- 

 bles?' * * 



'If the dung be completely rotten, the effects vn ill be 

 quickness of growth, succulence, crispness. and delica- 

 cy of flavor. I strongly suspectthat the application of 

 ill-digested manure to land is an evil productive of very 

 great injury. Worms and grubs are multiplied there- 

 by—the most noxious vapors are propagated; and, pro- 

 bably, the diseases in our grain crops may originate in 

 this circumstance. I cannot believe that the delicate 

 fibres of a root, making an effort to penetrate a clod of 

 putrefying dung, can escape uninjured; and vegetable 

 diseases, I presume, often commence at the root. '—Vol. 

 ix. Art. xix. p. 235. T have known recent manure 

 check vegetation.'— Ibid. p. 232. 



{Farmer's Magazine, vol. xvi. p. 185. 



ly benefited, the immediate object of the farmer is 

 generally a prompt return. 



in fine, although coinciding in the opinion that 

 the decomposition of putrescent manure may be 

 — and is very generally — carried too far, and that 

 its value is materially lessened by an excess of 

 putrefactive fermentation, yet experience proves 

 that, to a certain extent, it is absolutely requisite, 



h its positive effects upon vegetation are 

 stiil so doubtful that the degree can only be ascer- 

 tained by observation. The main agents of the 

 process are water, heat, and air. If a dung-heap 

 be much wetted, the operation proceeds very 

 slowly; but when only moisture is retained suffi- 

 cient to condense it, then it presently heats, and 

 the fermentation proceeds so violently that, if not 

 checked, a large portion of its bulk seems to escape 

 by evaporation; though, if this be only the effect 

 of the condensation of its materials, and if its 

 weight be not also reduced, the residue may per- 

 haps be thus rendered more nutritive. The oppo- 

 site result may, however, be the fact; for it may be 

 observed thai, if a quantity of farm-yard dung be 

 removed from a dunghill and turned loosely to the 

 aii-, though it may be cool at first, yet, if moder- 

 ately wet, it will soon generate heat; it will smoke 

 violently, and emit a very pungent effluvium: from 

 which it may be conjectured, that, the nutritive 

 properties ol the manure would have been better 

 ed if it bad not been exposed to further 

 fermentation. Care should therefore be taken to 

 preserve those exhalations from being dissipated, 

 and it wiil be probably found that the object will 



Rcienlly attained if the vegetative power of 

 seed-weeds be destroyed, and the fibres of the 

 straw be reduced to the state of spit-dung. 



Some fermentation will necessarily be ever go- 

 ing on in tin.' dung-heap; but there is little danger 

 of its being carried too tar if the ingredients 

 which it contains be well and proper!}' mixed. If 

 horse-dung alone be employed, it will soon pro- 

 ceed to an excess, occasioned by its own internal 

 beat, thai will deprive it of every fertilizing quality; 

 but if mixed with the cooler dung of homed cattle, 

 that risk will be in a great measure avoided. Then, 

 if the dry contents of the covered sheds be also 

 added to the mass of wet litter in the straw-yard, 

 the whole mixture will undoubtedly not ferment 

 beyond the point best suited to render it immedi- 

 ately available. 'In a large dunghill, of such a 

 mixture, the heat of the active fermentation sub- 

 sides in it long before any of its useful parts are 

 destroyed, and long before even all the water 

 which it contains is evaporated out of it; for, on 

 examination, the manure will be found to be quite 

 short, and easily lifted with the fork or shovel; 

 while, at the same time, it will be saturated with 

 the richest black-colored juices, which appear to 

 be the essentia! parts of urine deprived of their waf 

 ter.'* We, therefore, consider it as the opinion of 

 a large majority of the most intelligent farmers, that 

 dang should not be laid upon the. land until it has 

 undergone such a change as may be sufficient to 

 destroy the seeds and insects which it may con- 

 tain. This, however, cannot, be effected except 

 by a putrid fermentation, which, under common 

 farm management, cannot be completed until the 

 bean be decomposed and cool; for otherwise, the 

 operations of cartage, spreading, and ploughing in 



^Quarterly Journal of Agriculture, No. xix. p. S3. 



