C 



records an experiment, in which herrings spread over 

 a field and ploughed in for wheat, produced so rank 

 a crop, that it was entirely laid before harvest. 



The refuse pilchards in Cornwall are used 

 throughout the county as a manure, with excellent 

 effects. They are usually mixed with sand or soil, 

 and sometimes with sea-weed, to prevent them from 

 raising too luxuriant a crop. The effects are perceiv- 

 ed for several years. 



In the fens of Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, and 

 Norfolk, the little fish called sticklebacks, are caught 

 in the shallow waters in such quantities, that they 

 form a great article of manure in the land bordering 

 on the fens. 



It is easy to explain the operation of fish as a 

 manure. The skin is principally gelatine : which 

 from its slight state of cohesion is readily soluble in 

 water : fat or oil is always found in fishes, either nn- 

 der the skin or in some of the viscera ; and their fib- 

 rous matter contains all the essential elements of vege- 

 table substances. 



Amongst oily substances, graves and blubber are 

 employed as manure. They are both most useful when 

 mixed with soil, so as to expose a large surface to the 

 air, the oxygene of which produces soluble matter 

 from them. Lord Somerville used blubber with great 

 success at his farm in Surrey. It was made into a 

 heap with soil, and retained its powers of fertilizing 

 for several successive years. 



The carbon and hydrogene abounding in oily 

 substances fully account for their effects j and their 



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