FARM-YARD MANURE. 



crops ; but this may not happen in a long frost. 

 In summer, it is ready in eight or ten weeks ; 

 and, if there is an anxiety to have it sooner 

 prepared, the addition of ashes, or of a little 

 lime rubbish of old buildings, or of lime slack- 

 ened with foul water, applied to the dung used 

 in making up, will quicken the process con- 

 siderably. "Peat prepared with lime alone 

 has not been found to answer as good manure; 

 in one instance, viz. on a bit of fallow sown 

 with wheat, it was manifestly pernicious." 

 (Edinburgh Enryr. vol. i. p. 279.) The opinion 

 of Lord Meadowbank in favour of the use of 

 peat or sawdust as a mixture with farm-yard 

 compost, has been recently confirmed by Mr. 

 Dixon, of Hathershaw, in Lancashire, who, in 

 his Prize Essay, thus describes the result of 

 his long experience (Jo-urn, of the English j^gric. 

 Society, vol. i. p. 135): 



''My farm is a strong, retentive soil, on a 

 substratum of ferruginous clay. My object 

 was to improve its texture at the least cost. 

 For this purpose we carted great quantities of 

 fine sawdust and peat-earth, or bog; we had so 

 far to go for the latter, that two horses would 

 fetch little more than three tons in one day ; 

 one horse would fetch three cart-loads of saw- 

 dust in the same time. Having brought great 

 quantities of both peat and sawdust into my 

 farm-yard, I laid out, for the bottom of a com- 

 post heap, a space of considerable dimensions, 

 and about three feet in depth ; three-fourths of 

 this bottom was peat, the rest sawdust; on this 

 we conveyed, daily, the dung from the cattle- 

 sheds; the urine, also, is conducted through 

 channels to wells for its reception (one on each 

 side of the compost heap); common water is 

 entirely prevented from mixing with it. Every 

 second day the urine so collected is thrown 

 over the whole mass with a scoop, and at the 

 same lime we regulate the accumulated dung. 

 This being continued for a week, another layer, 

 nine inches or a foot thick, of peat and saw- 

 dust (and frequently peat without sawdust) is 

 wheeled on the accumulated heap. These 

 matters are continuously added to each other 

 during winter; and, in addition, once in every 

 week, never less than 25 cwl., more frequently 

 60 cwt., of night-soil and urine: the latter are 

 always laid next above the peat or bog earth, 

 as we think it accelerates their decomposition. 

 It is, perhaps, proper here to state, that the 

 peat is dug and exposed to the alternations of 

 the weather for several months before it is 

 brought to the heap for admixture: by this it 

 loses much of its moisture. Some years' ex- 

 perience has convinced me of the impropriety 

 of using recently dug peat: used in the man- 

 ner I recommend, it is superior and more con- 

 venient on every account; very much lighter 

 to cart, to the farm-yard, or any other situation 

 where it is wanted; and so convinced am I of 

 its utility in composts for every description of 

 soil, except that of its own character, that wher- 

 ever it can be laid down on a farm at less than 

 4 shillings per ton, I should recommend every 

 agriculturist and horticulturist that can com- 

 mand it, even at the cost here stated, to give it 

 a fair trial. So attractive and retentive of mois- 

 ttire is peat, that, if liberally applied to an arid, 

 sandy soil, that soil does not burn in a dry 



FARM-YARD MANURE. 



season, and it so much improves the texture 

 and increases the produce of an obdurate clay 

 soil, if in other respects rightly cultivated, that 

 actual experience alone can fairly determine 

 its value. 



"For the conveyance of night-soil and urine, 

 we have the largest and strongest casks, such 

 as oils are imported in ; the top of which is 

 provided with a funnel to put the matters 

 through, and the casks are fixed on wheels like 

 those of a common dung-cart. For the conve- 

 nience of emptying this carriage, the compost 

 heaps are always lower at one end ; the high- 

 est is where we discharge the contents, in order 

 that they may, in some degree, spread them- 

 selves over the whole accumulation. The situ- 

 ation on which the wheels of these carriages 

 stand while being discharged, is raised consi- 

 derably; this we find convenient, as the com- 

 post heap may be sloped six or seven feet high; 

 low compost heaps, in my opinion, should be 

 avoided. The plan here recommended I have 

 carried on for some time. I find no difficulty 

 in manuring my farm over once in two years ; 

 by this repetition I keep up the fertility of my 

 land, and it never requires more than a mode- 

 rate application of manure. 



"I am fully aware that there are many loca- 

 lities where neither peat nor night-soil can be 

 readily obtained; but it is worth a farmer's 

 while to go even more than 20 miles for the 

 latter substance, provided he can have it with- 

 out deterioration: the original cost is often 

 trilling. On a farm where turnips or mangel 

 are cultivated to some extent, the system here 

 recommended will be almost incalculably ad- 

 vantageous. A single horse is sufficient for 

 one carriage; mine hold upwards of a ton 

 each; six tons of this manure in compost with 

 peat, or, if that is not convenient, any other 

 matters, such as ditch scourings, or high head- 

 lands which have been properly prepared and 

 lni-1 drv in a heap for some time, would be am- 

 ply sufficient for an acre of turnips or mangel. 

 This manure is by far the most invigorating 

 of any I have ever yet tried ; bones in any 

 state will bear no comparison to it for any 

 crop; but it must be remembered that I write 

 Qn the supposition that it has not been reduced 

 in strength before it is brought. 



"Convenience frequently suggests that com- 

 post heaps should be raised on different parts 

 of a farm ; but, unless in particular instances, 

 it is well to have them in the yard. In the 

 farm-yard, all the urine from the cattle-stalls 

 may be employed with the greatest economy; 

 and. be it remarked, that the urine from ani- 

 mals, in given weights, is more powerful than 

 their solid excrements. How important, then, 

 must it not be to the farmer to make the most 

 extensive and the most careful use of this 

 liquid! It is sometimes carted on the land, 

 but that practice will not bear a comparison 

 with making it into composts in the manner 

 here recommended. Great waste is often made 

 in putrescent manures after they are carted on 

 the land ; instead of being immediately covered 

 or incorporated with the soil, we not unfre- 

 quently see them exposed for days together in, 

 the hot rays of a scorching sun, or to the inju- 

 rious influences of a dry wind. I have before 

 2 Q. 2 461 



