No 10. 



Hints on Manuring. 



321 



Hints on Manuring. 



The usual mode of application of farm- 

 yard manure is, by carting and spreading 

 the materials on the surface of a field when 

 in an incipient state, and then burying them 

 with the plough ; experience proving that 

 the decomposition of vegetable and animal 

 manure is in proportion to the state of the 

 land to which it is given ; so that, if the 

 field be in an exhausted state, and only one 

 ploughing follows, just to bury the manure, 

 its decomposition and chemical and mechan- 

 ical union with the soil will be very slow. 

 Manure so employed, is in fact wasted, in- 

 stead of being made the most of, as when 

 put early on a fallow and worked with it, 

 because the manure, when buried at one 

 ploughing, lies in contact for a whole year, 

 with the same surfaces of the soil, and being 

 in lumps, its sphere of contact and of action 

 must be proportionately small : and the con- 

 sequence is, that less fermentation takes 

 place than really ought, and a portion of 

 the manure will escape in gas from its own 

 fermentation, after the saturation of the 

 contiguous particles of the soil has been 

 completed, and the absence of more fresh 

 particles to arrest it; while, if plants are 

 growing immediately above those lumps, 

 they are injured from apoplexy, and lodging 

 and rust of the grain that follows, by re- 

 ceiving this food too readily and not suffi- 

 ciently diluted ; and this is the reason why 

 fish manure or yard manure is so soon ex- 

 hausted, when put on a field to be immedi- 

 ately cropped, and is not cultivated previ- 

 ously : stubbles, when ploughed in, on poor 

 and half-cultivated lands, will remain with 

 very little decay for a whole year, from the 

 existence of the strong balance of affinities 

 resulting from the exposed particles being 

 already saturated, and no new ones brought 

 up to the sun and air, when no fresh combi- 

 nations or fermentation can take place : 

 whereas, if stubbles are ploughed in, pre- 

 paratory to a fallow, so as to have the 

 benefit of several successive ploughings 

 and harrowings, nearly or quite the whole 

 of the stubble will be decomposed and 

 blended with the soil, and be rendered a 

 valuable manure, by the reciprocal fermen- 

 tation of the land and the stubble — the 

 former set into activity by the cultivation, 

 and the latter, from its easy decomposition, 

 soon feeling the effect of the former; when 

 they act conjointly in their general fer- 

 mentative and fertilizing process. 



When a crop is to be principally benefited 

 by the manure laid on a field, with one 

 ploughing only, the manure should be rich, 

 and in a forward state of decay; because 



its decay, when in a long or green state, 

 will be unassisted by cultivation, and the 

 affinities of the particles of the soil will be 

 too strong in their balance to expedite the 

 process. The manure in this case, will re- 

 quire to be brought into that state of decay, 

 before it is applied, which will insure its 

 own fermentation afterwards, without so 

 much of the aid from cultivation; and 

 then, like shavings to a nearly extinguished 

 fire, a partial overthrow of the strong bal- 

 ance of affinities of the soil will be pro- 

 duced, and thus far restore its fertility: but 

 manuring in this way, is at the expense of 

 the manure itself, by the loss that necessa- 

 rily ensues, whilst the heap lies fermenting 

 in the mixen, in order to its being reduced 

 to the requisite state of decay ; which de- 

 cay, or rather calcination, causes a portion 

 of its best elements, as well as quantity, to 

 be evolved to the winds. Again, when the 

 manure is laid on only before the last 

 ploughing, even if it be a fallow, and a crop 

 be then sown, the manure is found only par- 

 tially distributed in the soil, and more or 

 less in lumps; and before the young and 

 tender plants can reach these with their 

 delicate fibres, many perish. The above 

 circumstances lead to the conclusion, that 

 both in the garden and in the field, the best 

 time and manner of applying vegetable and 

 animal manures — indeed, manures of every 

 description, is on a fallow ; and to cart and 

 spread them on the land, either in the au- 

 tumn, winter or spring, according to their 

 nature and circumstances ; when there will 

 be sufficient time to mechanically mix them 

 well with the soil, by successive ploughings 

 and harrowings. By the experience of the 

 best gardeners, raw or fresh manure is never 

 found so healthy for plants, as when it has 

 been digested and blended with the soil by 

 previous fermentation and cultivation, be- 

 cause the materials of the raw manure are 

 forced, as it were, upon the plants in an un- 

 selected, undiluted, crude state; thus favour- 

 ing, if not causing disease, apoplexy, or ex- 

 travagant and injurious fertility: the only 

 exception to be adduced, is on stiff clay 

 lands, when it might operate also mechani- 

 cally in keeping the soil more open. 



By the manure being so early applied, the 

 particles of earth are more quickly and 

 generally divided ; therefore, the sooner and 

 better are they able to admit the fresh air, 

 rain and dews ; thus favouring their decom- 

 position and union with the soil ; and like- 

 wise the same of the manures, which, uniting 

 in their effects, co-operate with the plough 

 most powerfully in the general increase of 

 fermentation and pulverization; the ther- 

 mometer always denoting an increase of 



