80 ON MANURES. 



ble. It was an ancient practice to keep this sort in a 

 heap till it had become old, at least, if not rotten ; 

 for it is evident that old stable manure operated 

 more powerfully than new, or green manure ; but, 

 since it is ascertained that such manure, while in the 

 early stages of fermentation, promotes vegetable growth, 

 and that, if they lie in heaps, unmixed, they become 

 too warm and lose much of their strength, the good 

 manager must either add to the pile a large quantity of 

 mould, of dead matter, or he must apply it immediate- 

 ly to the soil, and mix it there with plough and har- 

 row. 



If the entire strength and richness of stable manure 

 can be secured by this immediate use of it, or covering 

 under the field furrow, a vast amount of labor in cart- 

 ing and overhauling may be saved. If it is as well to 

 mix it in the field as in the heap, none would be at the 

 trouble and expense of heaping. What do we. gain by 

 this latter mode ? We create more heat than we can 

 do under the furrow, and consequently a more rapid 

 decomposition. In creating this heat do we lose noth- 

 ing by the escape of the gases? Do we not, in short, 

 secure, by burying green stable manure under the fur- 

 row, all the salts that can be secured in any mode ? 

 Probably no method which we can adopt will secure 

 the whole richness of this manure ; but, as the labor 

 of carting it a second time, and of mixing, is very con- 

 siderable, and, as a certain loss is sustained on removal 

 after decomposition has commenced, the prudent farmer 

 will probably think it cheapest and safest to apply such 

 manure immediately to his soil whenever that is so 

 circumstanced that he can cover it in a proper manner. 



This may be done in all crops of Indian corn and of 

 potatoes, whether the field be greensward or old fur- 

 row ; but, for field turnips, or for garden vegetables, 

 fine manure is more proper ; for we cannot, in these 

 cases, cover it so well with the plough. Turnips of 

 all kinds require the soil to be rich on the surface, and 



