AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 179 



the most unprofitable in compost dunghills. A matted sward, 

 thickly entangled with roots, or mud dragged from the bot- 

 tom of bogs or ditches, and replete with aquatic plants, are 

 clearly preferable on this account, that, besides bringing earth 

 to the composition, they supply a large proportion of vege- 

 table matter. Whenever the soil must be carted to the heap 

 it is better to lay out the expense in transporting these en- 

 riching materials; because they will not only equally ab- 

 sorb and retain the evaporating gases, but greatly augment 

 the quantity of manure. '"^ 



The path proper for a farmer to pursue in order to make 

 the most of his manure, and preserve his own health and 

 that of his family, is as plain as a turnpike. Whenever pu- 

 trid fermentation is going on in any part of his premises, and 

 consuming his substance by a slow but wasteful combustion, 

 let him apply earth, peat, or some other earthy substance in 

 quantities sufficient to attract, imbibe, and retain all the 

 effluvia. Health, profit, and cleanliness equally require such 

 a proceeding. We shall say a word or'^two on the latter 

 topic. If a man were to swallow daily a quantity of filthy 

 matter, or to eat his food impregnated with vapors from a 

 manure heap, or from some other putrefying and ofTensivc 

 substance, when he might by a little exertion avoid such 

 nauseous viands, and substitute something nourishing, palat- 

 able, pure, and wholesome, we should esteem him no better 

 than a Hottentot. But a man may almost as well take filth 

 into his stomach, as filthy effluvia into his lungs; he may 

 about as well dine with a crow or a buzzard as sup with a 

 toad ' on the vapor of a dunghill.' 



The farmer who arrests the rank vapors which emanate 

 from decaying animal and vegetable matter, and instead of 

 permitting them to pass into and contaminate the air he 

 breathes, treasures up the invisible particles with which they 

 are laden, and applies them to feed useful vegetables, causes 

 the atmosphere to be healthy, and his plants to be thrifty by 

 the same means. 



The celebrated lord Erskine, in a speech delivered at one 

 of the annual sheep shearings at Holkham, in England, made 

 the following remarks on this subject : 



' If we consider the subject of manure, we shall perceive 

 one of the most striking beauties and benefits of divine or- 

 dination, and of that wisdom with which we are blessed a 



Letters of Agricola, by John Young, Esq. 



