DATE OF APPLICATION. 51 



manure, the frequency of its application, and the 

 nature of the soil. 



These considerations naturally vary so much, that 

 the quantities of farmyard manure it is advisable to 

 apply in different cases are widely different. There is 

 a strong probability that the rate at which farmyard 

 manure has been applied in the past has been grossly 

 in excess of what could be profitably employed. Opin- 

 ion is gaining ground among practical farmers, that 

 smaller and more frequent applications of farmyard 

 manure to the soil would be fraught with better re- 

 sults than the older custom of applying a large dress- 

 ing at a time. This is an opinion in the support of 

 which science can urge strong arguments. It is only of 

 late years that we have come to recognise sufficiently 

 the various risks which all fertilisers are subject to 

 in the soil, and the importance, therefore, of minimis- 

 ing these risks as much as possible by putting into the 

 soil at one time only as much manure as it is safely 

 able to retain. 



" The famous old German writer, Thaer, regarded 17 

 or 18 tons as an abundant dressing; 14 tons he called 

 good, and 8 or 9 tons light. Other German authorities 

 speak of 7 to 10 tons as light, 12 to 18 tons as usual, 

 20 or more tons as heavy, and 30 tons as a very heavy 

 application." 1 



In the new edition of Stephens' ' Book of the Farm ' 2 



1 Storer's Agricultural Chemistry, vol. i. p. 498. 



2 Division III. p. 130. 



