I 7 4 A TREATISE ON THE CONNECTION OF 



By the dung, and still more so by the urine of cattle, 

 lands of this nature, after having been depastured 

 fora certain number of years, will be found to have 

 received considerable benefit, and to have become more 

 fitted for the production of crops of grain. This is prin- 

 cipally to be ascribed to the effect which the volatile 



: alkali of the urine has, in dissolving a proportion of the 

 superabundant oxygenated inert vegetable matter <:on- 



-tained in the soil. 



"It has been stated in the preceding part of this Work, 

 -that stable-yard dung, by long keeping and exposure to 

 air, loses its saline fertilizing powers, and becomes in all 

 respects similar to peat. The same effect, in part, will take 

 place on stable-yard dung when applied to. ground. Un- 

 der the -article of Putrefaction it has been observed, that 

 the soluble and saline part of the dung bears but a small 

 proportion to what is insoluble. By the repeated dung- 

 ings, during so many centuries, there has been accumu- 

 lated in the infield lands of Scotland too large a propor- 

 tion of vegetable matter. This surplus, however, may, 

 H>y the judicious application of lime, alkalis, and other 

 -saline substances, be dissolved, and thus made to pro- 

 duce 



