178 OF MANURE. 



may be laid on in the month of July, and it should be 

 ploughed in immediately alter. 



5. On strong soils, dung is generally mixed with the 

 fallow, by one or two ploughings ; and it is recommended, 

 that the furrow, after it is laid on, should not exceed six 

 inches in depth. Other farmers, however, contend, that 

 as calcareous matter has a tendency to sink in the ground, 

 and dung to rise to the surface, the former should be kept 

 near the surface, and the latter tsdl covered in the soil.* 

 When dung is lodged near the surface, it promotes too ra- 

 pid a vegetation in the foliage, which rarely fails to dimi- 

 nish the produce of grain; a circumstance that necessarily 

 circumscribes surface-dressing very much. If the ingre- 

 dient is volatile, great part of it evaporates, and is lost. 

 Top-dressings, therefore, except with composts, or lime 

 alone, and on grass land, is not practised in Scotland, 

 though not unusual in some parts of England, for young 

 wheat, to give a fillip to the plant. 



The propriety of employing dung as a top-dressing to 

 meadow-land, is much disputed. It is usual in some parts 

 of the kingdom, to lay on from fifteen to twenty double- 

 cart loads per English acre, every three or four years ; ta- 

 king one crop of hay, and pasturing the land afterwards. 

 The same quantity of manure would suffice for an arable 

 system, on a succession of four crops; namely, 1. Turnips 

 fed with sheep ; 2. Spring-sown wheat or barley ; 3. Clo- 

 ver ; and, 4. Oats. In favour of the grazing system, it is 

 contended, that old grass lands let for more rent per acre, 

 than the adjoining fields under the plough, which is one 

 reason why the proprietors endeavour to keep them in that 



" Communication from Captain John Henderson of Aimster, in Caith- 

 ness. 



