154 



FOL 



FOR 



black cattle without sheep, on a 

 a very dry soil ; such as hungry 

 sand or gravel ; and the sheep 

 without the black cattle, on a soil 

 that is heavy and cold. Thus both 

 these kinds of manure will be ap- 

 plied to the soil which will be most 

 helped by them. 



Folding is a much better meth- 

 od than carrying dung from the 

 barn-yard, when the season is suit- 

 able for doing it. One great ad- 

 vantage of it is, that none of the 

 stale is wasted, but every drop of 

 it instantly absorbed by the soil 

 that needs it, and will make a good 

 return for it. 



Folding, or yarding, is but little 

 attended to in this country ; and 

 not half the advantage is made from 

 it that might be, when it is at- 

 tempted. It is said that one 

 hundred sheep in a summer will 

 enrich eight acres, so as to need 

 no other manuring for six years. 



This matter is certainly miscon- 

 ducted, when a farmer, either to 

 save the labour of fencing, or 

 through ignorance of the advan- 

 tage of folding, makes his enclo- 

 sures too small, and folds the land 

 too much for his own profit. 



Let a spot of half an acre be 

 ploughed and fenced. Turn in, 

 each night, a dozen head of neat 

 cattle, and fifty sheep. Continue 

 to do it for three weeks, harrowing 

 the surface once in three days, to 

 mix the excrements with the soil. 

 The ground will be sufficiently 

 folded to produce a fine crop of 

 turnips, or almost any other good 

 crop. It is reckoned by some that 

 a sheep will fold one yard square 

 in a night ; or rather one rod square 

 in about a fortnight. 



A yard for cabbages or turnips, 

 may be begun about the middle of 

 May ; or when the cattle first go 

 to grass. About a month after will 

 be nearly the right time to trans- 

 plant cabbages ; and six weeks or 

 about two months after, to sow tur- 

 nips. And, for a general rule, it is 

 best that a crop should succeed the 

 manuring as soon as possible. 



When a crop of wheat is want- 

 ed, the ground may be folded in 

 July, as the seed is to be sown in 

 August. And frequent ploughing 

 and harrowing for this crop should 

 not be neglected. If the land be 

 wettish, do it in the middle of the 

 day ; if dry, in the morning before 

 the dew is off. 



Low grass grounds, which are 

 cold and sour, and produce bad 

 hay, may be surprisingly meliora- 

 ted by a little folding. It kills fern 

 and mosses, and roots out the wild 

 and watery grasses, even without 

 breaking up the soil. At the same 

 time it encourages the growth of 

 better kinds of grasses. This may 

 be done at certain seasons that are 

 unsuitable forthe folding of plough- 

 ed lands, they being too wet and 

 dirty for the sheep to lie upon, as 

 in October, November, March and 

 April. Sheep are more proper for 

 this sort of folding than larger cat- 

 tle, as their excrements are hotter. 

 FOOD OF PLANTS. "No 

 one principle affords the pabulum 

 of vegetable life ; it is neither char- 

 coal nor hydrogene, nor azote, 

 nor oxygene alone ; but all of 

 Ihem together in various states and 

 various combinations." Agricul- 

 tural Chemistry. 

 FOREST, a tract of ground, pro- 



•X 



