226 On well-rotted Dung, Stercorariesy &?c. 



in a well conducted stercorary, it converts other sub-= 

 stances into manure. Weeds, ofFal, earth, and innu- 

 merable articles, otherwise not only useless but nui- 

 sances, may be turned into valuable manure ; by be- 

 ing fermented and impregnated, by means of the ani- 

 mal ejections with which they are mixed. Time is re- 

 quired for the process of putrescence ; and this time 

 is denied, by a too early evacuation of the dung- pen. 

 The dreams, or the labours, of alchymists, certainly 

 have never realised, if they have even imagined, so 

 much treasure by transmutation, as well managed ster- 

 coraries are capable of producing. But removing from 

 them, prematurely, the foundation of their utility, is at 

 once blowing out the furnace. Whatever justification 

 there may be for using the earth as a laboratory, by 

 ploughing in the muck ; it would seem, that spread- 

 ing and exposing what I call the raw material, on the 

 surface ; is entirely without reasonable excuse. Yet I 

 have known men, on whose judgments, in other mat- 

 ters, I should rely, not only defend, but persist in the 

 practice ; although it effectually supersedes, as the 

 former custom curtails, the use of that all important 

 repository, — the stercorary. This indispensable maga- 

 zine is too little attended to. Yet it is to the farmer, 

 what his dam is to the miller. The process of fermen- 

 tation and decomposition, is as needful in the prepara- 

 tion of the materials essential to his art ; as it is to 

 the distiller, and the brewer, in their respective occu- 

 pations. 



I have not, in the imperfect discussion I have enter- 

 ed into on this subject, had any anxiety, on a personal 



