154 



ON MANURES. 



the average, forty inches of rain or moisture annually 

 from the clouds, say twenty during the season of vege- 

 tation. This falls on to a coating of manure, not ex- 

 ceeding half an inch thick, in any case ; and generally 

 not exceeding one fourth of an inch in thickness ; for 

 you will find by calculation that twenty loads, or six 

 hundred bushels of loam, sand, or manure, will not 

 cover your acre one fourth of an inch in thickness. 



Then consider your ground is to be filled with 

 living roots, seizing and absorbing every particle that 

 is digestible, and what chance is there for an escape 

 downwards of these salts ? If our cup was placed one 

 foot below the surface of a field thus manured, its con- 

 tents, after a shower, could not be affected by the 

 manure of the field. 



Still we have not proved that manure cannot be 

 placed too deep in the soil. We are satisfied that it 

 may be. Manures of all kinds must be well mingled 

 with the soil. If we spread it green, and plough it 

 under a greensward, it must lie there in some degree 

 dormant during the summer. And we think we can- 

 not keep manures a long time dormant without loss. 

 There may not be much loss if it is fine and is well 

 buried under a greensward as late as the middle of 

 May, for the growing roots and the green grass become 

 immediately active manures, and these assist to hasten 

 the decomposition of that which was spread on. 



On heaps of manure, placed under corn or potato 

 hills, there is nothing but worms to operate — unless, 

 may be, the crows should be kind enough to lend a 

 hand — and of all practices this is the most difficult of 

 advocacy. We cannot hope to enrich our grounds and 

 prepare them for future crops, Avithout spreading our 

 manures through the field. The labor is surely less, 

 the crops are generally better, and the after-crops are 

 always larger. 



On the whole, when we conveniently can, we should 

 enlarge the quantity by adding loam, peat, muck, or 



