MAN 



MAN 



257 



many rases in which such an 

 applicalion might be eajJil} made. 

 Horses, dogs, slieep, deer, and 

 other quadrupeds that have died 

 accidf^iitally, or of disease, after 

 tht ir skins are separated, are often 

 suffered to remain exj)osed to the 

 air or immersed in water till they 

 are destroyed by i)irds or beasts of 

 prey, or entirely decomposed ; and 

 in this case most of their organized 

 matter is lost for the land on which 

 they lie, and a considerable por- 

 tion of it employed in giving off 

 noxious gasses to the atmosphere. 



"By covering dead animals with 

 five or six times their bulk of soil, 

 mixed with one part of lime, and 

 suffering them to remain for a few 

 months, their decomposition would 

 impregnate the soil with soluble 

 matters,so as to render it an excel- 

 lent manure ; and by mixing a lit- 

 tle fresh quick lime with it at the 

 time of its removal, the disagreea 

 ble effluvia would be in a great 

 measure destroyed ; and it might 

 be applied in the same way as any 

 other manure to crops. 



" Fish forms a powerful manure 

 in whatever state it is applied ; but 

 it cannot be ploughed in too fresh, 

 though the quantity be limited. 

 Mr. Young records an experiment, 

 in which lierrings spread over a 

 field and ploughed in for wheat pro- 

 duced so rank a crop, that it was 

 entirely laid before harvest. 



" It is easy to explain the opera- 

 tions offish as a manure. The skin 

 is principally gelatine ; which from 

 its slight state of cohesion is readi- 

 ly soluble in water, fat or oil ; is 

 aliva^s found ii: fishes either under 

 the skin or in some of the viscera ; 

 33 



and their fibrous matter contains 

 ail the essential elements of vege- 

 table substances. 



" Among oily substances, ^rares 

 and blubber are employed as ma- 

 nure, i'hey are both most useful 

 when mixed with soil, so as to ex- 

 pose a large surface to the air, the 

 oxygene of which produces soluble 

 matter from them. Lord Somer- 

 ville used blubber with great suc- 

 cess at his farm in Surrey, It was 

 made into a heap with soil, and re- 

 tained its powers of fertilizing for 

 several successive years. 



" The carbon and hydrogene 

 abounding in oily substances fully 

 account for their effects ; and their 

 durability is easily explained from 

 the gradual manner in which they 

 change by the action of air and 

 water. 



''^ Bones are much used as a ma- 

 nure in the neighbourhood of Lon- 

 don. After being broken and boil- 

 ed for grease they are sold to the 

 fanner. The more divided they 

 are the more powerful are their ef- 

 fects. 'J he expense of grinding 

 them in a mill would probably be 

 repaid by the increase of their fer- 

 tilizing powers ; and in the state of 

 powder they might be used in the 

 drill husbandry. 



" Bone dusl, and bone shavings, 

 the refuse of the turning mamfac- 

 tare, may be advantageously em- 

 ployed in the same way. 



" The basis of bone is constitu- 

 ted by earthy sails, principally 

 phosphate of Jime, with some car- 

 bonate of lirne, and phosphate of 

 magnesia ; the easily decomposa- 

 ble substances in bone are fat, gela- 

 tine, and cartilage, which seem of 



