MANURES. 



MANURES. 



From this sketch of the history of the chief 

 manures, and of the steady improvement in the 

 mode of applying them, we may safely conclude 

 that, as regards the cultivation of even the most 

 barren soils, the drifting lands of Norfolk, the 

 heath-lands of the north of England and Scot- 

 land, and even the shingle of its sea-coast, much 

 will yet be effected by improved modes of ap- 

 plying manures. Let such improvements pro- 

 ceed ; let science go hand in hand with practice ; 

 let the naturalist discover new cultivatable ve- 

 getables, or new varieties of those already 

 known ; let the chemist yield his magic aid to 

 demonstrate the best mode of promoting their 

 growth, and increasing the fertility of the soil ; 

 and then I fearlessly assert that many more 

 than the present inhabitants of Britain may be 

 amply supported by the produce of the land of 

 our birth. "Nature," said Davy, "amidst all 

 her changes, is continually directing her re- 

 sources towards the production and multiplica- 

 tion of life ; and in the wise and grand econo- 

 my of the whole system, even the agents that 

 appear injurious to the hopes and destructive 

 to the comforts of man are, in fact, ultimately 

 connected with a more exalted state of his 

 powers and his condition. His industry is 

 awakened, his activity kept alive, even by the 

 of climates and seasons. By the acci- 

 dents which interfere with his efforts he is made 

 to exert his talents to look farther into futurity, 

 and to consider the vegetable kingdom, not as 

 a secure and unalterable inheritance, sponta- 

 neously providing for his wants, but as a doubt- 

 ful and insecure possession, to be preserved 

 only by labour, and extended and perfected by 

 iii-en uity." (Lecture*, p. 267.) 



ire, Liur u-itli wizard to. In most English 

 farm-leases there are covenants introduced 

 with regard to manure, which are often worse 

 than useless ; encumbering the efforts of the 

 skilful cultivator, and rarely improving the 

 practice of the ignorant, lazy, and unprincipled. 

 Thus, by some leases the farmer is allowed, on 

 certain conditions, to sell his straw and hay, 

 and bring on to the farm in its stead a given 

 weight of manure (commonly 2 tons of stable- 

 dung for a load of straw, and 3 tons for a load 

 of hay); in others he is restrained from selling 

 either ; in others, from liming or chalking his 

 land. In most leases he covenants to spread 

 the manure on the farm, and to leave it, in the 

 concluding year of his term, properly laid up 

 in heaps, if it is not already employed on the 

 land. 



The mere relation of landlord and tenant is 

 a sufficient consideration for the tenant's pro- 

 mise to manage a farm in a husbandlike man- 

 ner, and nf>t to carry away any straw, dung, 

 compost, &c. ; but to promise to spend 60/. 

 worth of manure every year, is not in law an 

 obligation arising out of the bare relation of 

 landlord and tenant. A tenant from year to 

 rear, under a notice to quit, cannot remove 

 manure, except according to the custom of the 

 country, and, if necessary, he may be restrained 

 by an injunction. The custom of the country 

 s usually followed with regard to the manage 

 ment and sale of manure; but in case there is 

 a written agreement, no inquiry can be made 

 as to the custom of the country ; and when an 



express stipulation is made, the custom of the 

 country is excluded entirely. In this case Lord 

 Lyndhurst said, "The offgoing tenant was 

 bound by the custom of the country to leave 

 the manure on the premises, and was entitled 

 to be paid for it by the landlord, or the succeed- 

 ing tenant ; but in this case they did not rely 

 on the custom. The lease contained a cove- 

 nant that the tenant, on quitting the farm, 

 should not sell or take away the manure which 

 should be in the fold, but should leave it to be 

 expended on the land by the landlord or his 

 succeeding tenant. It is to be left for their 

 use, and there is no provision as to any pay- 

 ment in respect of it. We are of opinion, 

 therefore, that the plaintiff is not entitled to be 

 paid for the manure." But where an agree- 

 ment is silent as to the question of manures, 

 then the custom of the country is valid in law. 

 If the outgoing tenant has covenanted with 

 his landlord to sell the manure to the incoming 

 tenant at a valuation, and to leave it on the 

 farm, the outgoing tenant has a right of on- 

 stand on the farm ; and if the incoming tenant 

 remove the manure before such valuation, he 

 is answerable to the outgoing tenant in an 

 action of trespass. A tenant may sell or 

 assign over manure to an assignee, although 

 he thereby subjects himself to an action of 

 covenant. And it is a reasonable custom for 

 the landlord to pay the outgoing tenant the 

 expense of manuring. If a tenant, during his 

 tenancy, removes a dunghill, and at the same 

 time digs into and removes virgin soil that is 

 beneath it, his landlord may maintain either 

 trespass de bonat asportatis, or trover, for the 

 removal of the virgin soil. But if a tenant 

 covenants to sufficiently muck and manure the 

 land, with two sufficient sets of muck, within 

 the last six years of his tenancy, the last muck- 

 ing to be within the last three years, this cove- 

 nant is satisfied by the tenant laying on two 

 sets of muck within the last three years of his 

 term, if he shall think fit to do so. 



In valuing manure to an incoming tenant, 

 much depends upon jhe custom of the country, 

 which is usually followed in these cases. 

 Land which has been rendeied perfectly clean 

 by a year's fallowing, is denominated a full 

 tillage, and by tillages the valuation is com- 

 monly made. 



In estimating the value of manure in arable 

 land, it is done by allowing a full tillage after 

 a fallow or crop of turnips fed off; after a white 

 crop, half a tillage ; but after two white crops 

 no allowance is made. 



For bones one tillage more is valued than 

 for dung, on arable soils ; two-thirds of the 

 value of the bones, and labour of procuring 

 and spreading them, being allowed after one 

 white crop, and one-third of the value after 

 two white crops. Soot, rape-cake, oil, sprats, 

 &c., which are quickly exhausted in the soil, 

 are allowed for as one full tillage before a crop 

 grown, or after turnips, &c., eaten off; but if 

 the turnips, &c. have been carried off, then 

 only one-third of the cost of procuring, carry- 

 ing, and spreading is allowed. 



For earthy manures more is allowed in a 

 valuation than for those of a perishable na- 

 ture. Thus, on pasture land, lime, chalk, or 



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