24 FARMYARD MANURE. 



69*8 per cent, in fertilising matters ; or, in round numbers, two- 

 thirds of the manure were tvasted, and only one-third was left 

 behind. This fact teaches a most important lesson, and speaks 

 for itself so forcibly that any further comment appears to me 

 useless. 



I have already observed that there is no advantage in keeping 

 manure for too long a period before carting it on the fields, and 

 again beg to urge you to adopt this last-named plan in preference 

 to setting up a manure-heap in a corner of the field and exposing 

 it to the deteriorating influence of rain. You need not be afraid 

 that it will lose any of its essential fertilizing constituents by 

 spreading it out, even if you cannot plough in the manure for a 

 long time to come. By spreading out the manure, the fermenta- 

 tion is stopped immediately, and no ammonia can possibly escape 

 into the air. The rain which falls on the manure will wash its 

 valuable constituents into the scil, the very place where they are 

 wanted to be. By spreading the manure over the land and allowing 

 it to be washed in gradually by the falling rain, it becomes much 

 more uniformly incorporated with the soil than by any other 

 method, and this unquestionably is a great advantage ; in proof of 

 which I beg to remind you of the superior effect of superphosphate 

 when sown with the liquid manure drill, or guano mixed with 

 salt, sand, or anything which tends to secure a more uniform dis- 

 tribution of this fertilizer. 



Some farmers are afraid that heavy rain might wash into the 

 subsoil the best fertilizing constituents of manure, especially when 

 it is carted on the land in autumn ; but this fear is unfounded, 

 for the beautiful researches of Professor Way have shown that 

 most soils of average quality possess the power of absorbing 

 manuring matters and retaining them so firmly, that they cannot 

 be sensibly removed by the heaviest showers or long-continued 

 rain. The only exception to this general absorbing property of 

 soils we find in very light sandy soils. On such soils the manure 

 should be used just before the crop is sown which is intended to 

 be cultivated. 



I am aware, however, that the manure cannot always be carted 

 at once on the land, and for the root-crops has to be kept until it 

 is thoroughly decomposed. Where the manure cannot be made 

 in boxes, it is very desirable that it should be kept in covered 

 pits. However there is no rule without exception, for where 

 litter is abundant, as in the neighbourhood of Cirencester, all the 

 rain which falls in the year is required to make the straw into 

 manure, and it would entail additional cost to place a dung-pit 

 under cover. Under such circumstances, I think the expense for 

 erecting a roof over a dung-pit may be avoided with propriety. 



With reference to the time of applying farmyard manure, I 

 would observe that much depends on the kind of land which is. 



