730 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. U 



5 wagon-loads of subble 6 working horses. 



25 do. of fern 4 cows. 



m. j c a » , fl yearling and 30 



The product of 4 acres of oat- i haon B ^y,, 



straw 



5 loads of do. 



19 do. of hay. 



i 



lean hogs, fed 

 on cabbages & 

 [ turnips. 



The yard was kept littered about 6 inches deep 

 with fern, to soak up the urine, and the dung from 

 the stables and cow-houses was carried out and 

 laid upon it — hogs being the only loose stock 

 allowed in the yard; but the thirty sheep were 

 penned nightly upon fern only in one corner of 

 it. The manure was not thereibre trodden by cat- 

 tle, but was piled up occasionally, as it. accumu- 

 lated, to the height of near 7 feet, when another 

 heap was clamped up. The total amount, after 

 having been duly turned, was 390 loads ot 18 

 bushels (of which the sheep produced 23 loads,) 

 and the whole expense, including the charge of 

 mixing and turning an extra quantity of 70 loads 

 of the dung of a former year — but not adding the 

 cost of the hay — was £25 ISs., which might 

 amount at present prices to £35. It must, how- 

 ever, be observed that it contained a larger pro- 

 portion of dung than the former compost, and 

 that this mode of preparation allows of its being 

 got ready at different periods, without mixing the 

 first portion with fresh dung; so that the first 

 heap was in excellent order for use early in the 

 spring.* Its precise effect upon the land lias not 

 been stated; but no farmer can be at a loss to con- 

 jecture its value, and from these data the cost of 

 similiar composts can be easily ascertained. 



In using turf, or any kind of grass, in the mix- 

 ture of a compost, it will be proper to recollect 

 that, if taken up during most parts of the summer 

 and autumn, it will not only be found generally 

 impregnated with the seeds of weeds, but that 

 grub- worms, wire-worms, and various other in- 

 sects, usually select dry banks by the road-side, 

 hedge-rows, or dry pasture, in which to deposite 

 their eggs. When turf, or earth, is carried from 

 such places, and added to the compost without 

 having been previously subjected to the processes 

 of tillage, the greatest care should be taken, either 

 that it be turned up a full twelvemonth before it is 

 applied to the land; or, as we have already ob- 

 served, that quicklime be strewed between the 

 sods, in order to guard against every chance of 

 their propagation.! 



The application of dung 

 to different soils and crops, though matter of wide 

 discretion to the farmer, is yet a subject which ad- 

 mits of a tew general directions. 



Notwithstanding what has been already said 

 respecting the practice of those farmers who al- 

 low this manure to lie for a long time upon the 

 surface of the land, we however agree with 

 the opposite opinion — that it should be spread 

 the moment it is taken from the cart, and com- 

 pletely incorporated with the soil;} for by tillage it 



* See Nos. ii. and iii. of the first article in vol. hi. 

 of the Papers of the Bath Agricultural Society; and 

 Holland's Survey of Cheshire, p. 227. 



t See Blaikie's Appendix to his Essay on Farm-yard 

 Manure, edit. 1828, p. 27. 



X Sinclair's Code of Agriculture, 3d edit., p. 220; 

 General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 521; Brown of 

 Markle, on Agriculture, vol. i. p. 398. 



becomes amalgamated with the inert particles of 

 the earth, through which means both that and the 

 dung form one substance in the fittest state of 

 nourishment to promote vegetation.* It should 

 not, however, be deep buried in the soil at first; 

 lor, though it is the prevailing opinion of many 

 persons, that, by deep covering, the dung is de- 

 lended from the injurious effect of exhalation — 

 that the roots of plants soon find their way to it — 

 and that it will be raised higher by after-plough- 

 ings — yet there are men of accurate observation 

 who, from long experience, have found that, if 

 dung be only just covered, the nearer it is to the 

 surface the greater are its effects in promoting fer- 

 tility, for then it lies near the roots of young plants 

 at the time when they need the most cherishing 

 aliment. They also declare, that dung never rises 

 to the surface after it has lain mixed for a season 

 with the soil; but, on the contrary, that, as it dis- 

 solves in the earth, the solution descends as low as 

 the soil has been stirred by the plough. f 



It is another rule in the application of farm-yard 

 manure, among good farmers, not to use a great- 

 er quantity at one time than may be supposed ca- 

 pable of producing a good crop; for, although land 

 can hardly be rendered too rich for the production 

 of green crops, yet wheat, barley, oats, and rye 

 have often been so much injured by a profuse sup- 

 ply of dung, that they have run almost entirely to 

 straw. We have lately seen wheat, on good and 

 well-tilled land, in the possession of an extensive 

 coach-master, which has scarcely yielded two 

 quarters the acre, in consequence of the applica- 

 tion of stable-dung; and it is well known that a 

 good croj) of grain cannot be grown upon a dung- 

 hill. It should not, however, be too sparingly ad- 

 ministered, for if an insufficient quantity be laid 

 on, it may not reimburse the expense; whereas a 

 full supply will probably have the effect of pro- 

 ducing an abundant crop. A medium should 

 thereibre be observed; but so much depends upon 

 circumstances — upon the strength of the manure, 

 the nature of the soil, and the intended crop and 

 culture — that no precise amount can be stated. 

 Various calculations have indeed been made by 

 different writers upon the subject, but they are 

 generally so vague, that they only estimate the 

 quantity in loads, by which no precise meaning can 

 be defined, for it must depend upon the size of the 

 cart; and even when calculated in cubic yards, 

 the weight will differ according to the state of the 

 manure, though one cubic yard of well-rotted 

 dung maybe generally supposed to average about 

 11 cvvt. A well-heaped one-horse cart will carry 

 nearly a ton, and those drawn by two horses 

 about U ton; a smail wagon is also commonly 

 supposed to contain two cubical yards, each con- 

 sisting of 27 bushels, when estimated by strike- 



* This has been exemplified by the observations of 

 Marshall upon a crop of wheat of 4 quarters the acre 

 obtained from his own farm, after peas, which had been 

 dunged and thoroughly incorporated with the soil; while 

 another field of wheat, sown at the same time, and lresh 

 dunged with fine spit-dung, superior both in quality 

 and' quantity, but which had been ploughed in large 

 lumps along with the seed, only produced 2 quarters. 

 Min. of Agric. 



f Naismith's Essay on Manures, vol. ii. of the Ap- 

 pendix to the General Report of Scotland, chap. xii. 

 p. 32, note. 



