30 



be no fermentation before the manure is used than that it should 

 be carried too far. This is a very important matter to observe, for 

 excess of fermentation tends to the destruction aud dissipation of 

 the most useful part of the manure, and the ultimate results of 

 this process are like those of combustion. 



Woodashes not too much reduced have been used with success 

 as manure. A part of their effects may be owing to the slow 

 and gradual consumption of the charcoal, which seems capable, 

 under other circumstances than those of actual combustion, of 

 absorbing oxygen so as to become carbonic acid. 



Animal substances, such as putrid meat or carcases of beasts, 

 require no chemical preparation to fit them for the soil. The 

 object of the farmer should be to blend them with earthy con- 

 stituents in a proper state of division, so as to prevent their too 

 rapid decomposition. After taking the skin off dead animals, they 

 should be covered with six times their bulk of soil mixed with one 

 part lime, and suffered to remain for a few months, mixing a little 

 more quicklime with the mass at the time of its removal, which 

 will destroy the effluvia. 



Fish is a powerful manure, and should be ploughed in fresh, 

 but not in too great quantities, or the crop will be rank. In Corn- 

 wall, where this manure is very general in the pilchard season, 

 they mix the fish with sand or seaweed. There is a small fish, 

 called the stickleback, also applied as manure in the fens of Lincon- 

 shire and other counties. The operation of fish as a manure is 

 easily explained. The skin is principally gelatine, which from its 

 slight state of cohesion is readily soluble in water. Fat or oil is 

 always found in fishes ; and their fibrous matter contains all the 

 essential elements of vegetable substance. The effects of a manur- 

 ing of fish are apparent for several years. 



Bones have lately come into great use as a manure, and a pow- 

 erful auxiliary they are to a tenant entering upon a worn-out 

 farm, being cheap, easy of carriage, available in all situations, and 

 insuring a crop. The more divided they are, the more powerful 

 their effect ; but when broken instead of ground to dust, they are 

 more lasting. 



