MANURES. 35 



diate produce of the farm-yard, there are certain vegetable and 

 animal substances, which, in the separate states, may be applied 

 to the manuring of land. 



An example of the application of vegetable substances in this 

 state, is when certain plants are allowed to come into flower, 

 and are then ploughed down in their green state, and mixed 

 with the matter of the soil. This practice, derived from very 

 ancient times, prevails extensively in Europe, and has been 

 beneficially adopted in some sections of our country. 



Where green dressings are resorted to, as a manure, such 

 growths should be selected for the purpose as are cheap in the 

 article of seed, and at the same time quick, vigorous and bulky. 

 Buckwheat is much used for this purpose; other plants of rapid 

 growth and great yield, would probably answer as good if not 

 a better purpose. Clover, at the suggestion of speculative 

 writers, has been thus employed, whereby an error has been 

 frequently committed of using a valuable article as manure, 

 which might have been employed in the first place in supply- 

 ing the animals of the farm. 



When this practice is adopted, the period at which the 

 plants may be ploughed down is when they have come into 

 flower, for then they contain the largest quantity of readily 

 soluble matter, and have least exhausted the nutrient sub- 

 stance of the soil. In order that the growth be turned effectu- 

 ally under, it should be laid prostrate by running the roller 

 over it, in the direction in which the plough is to follow. 



There are instances in which green dressings are advisable, 

 particularly if they do not prevent the growth of an interven- 

 ing crop. Where this is not practicable, we should hardly 

 advise to this method of manuring, unless in cases where 

 other manures cannot readily be obtained. 



A green dressing may be given with great advantage, for 

 instance, where a crop of rye, oats, or barley has been har- 

 vested, and the ground cleared by the twentieth of July. In 

 this case, let the stubble be immediately turned under, and the 

 ground harrowed in with buckwheat, sown thickly. By the 

 twentieth of September this growth would probably be fit to 

 be turned under, when a crop of wheat might be sown on the 

 lay. 



JVeeds, in general, are likewise of great service, if they be 

 cut down in their most succulent state, shortly before they 

 flower; as they are then not only most disposed to putrescence, 

 but also the injury which would otherwise result from the per- 

 fection of their seeds will thus be effectually avoided. 



Hence weeds ought not, as is too frequently the practice, to 

 be heedlessly burnt or thrown into the highway; but if they 



