ON MANURES. 19 



is well broken by thrashing, it also forms a very tolerable 

 litter, for which purpose it is much used in most parts of Eng- 

 land, though in some places it is wholly laid, as if of no further 

 value, in the bottom of the straw-yard, and pea-haulm is more 

 generally employed in cart-stables for racking up the horses, 

 and for sheep, which are very fond of it. In Scotland, how- 

 ever, the haulm of neither is used for litter, unless it has been 

 spoiled by the weather, or has become sticky by the crop 

 having been allowed to stand too long upon the ground before 

 being cut, and it is there, more prudently, kept for the pur- 

 poses of feeding. 



Yards and Sheds. — It may be observed that the former are 

 often so full of large holes as to leave them in many parts 

 saturated with water, or their bottoms are either so porous, or 

 else situated on such declivities as to drain ofl' the entire 

 moisture ; in either of which cases the loss cannot but be very 

 considerable to the farmer, although he may be ignorant of 

 what he is daily losing, because it does not go out of his 

 pocket in the shape of hard cash. Whenever a yard is cir- 

 cumstanced in either of the ways just mentioned, all the 

 inequalities should be levelled, the bottom should be rendered 

 sound and water-tight, and if either any declivity in the yard, 

 or the situation of the buildings, occasions the stock confined 

 in it to give a preference to one part over another, the litter 

 should, in that case, be occasionally removed, in order that it 

 may be equally spread over every part, and the position of the 

 feeding cribs should be altered ; for although our opinion 

 inclines to that form which prefers a gentle slope to the centre 

 of the yard, and the dung should be kept moist, yet it should 

 not be suffered to become drenched with rain. If this be not 

 attended to, the excess of wet will prevent the bottom of the 

 heap from rotting ; and if it be not regularly spread to a nearly 

 equal depth, the fermentation will be carried on imperfectly, 

 which will occasion those parts where it may have been too 

 much raised to contract an excess of heat, from which they 

 become what is termed fire-fanged. This especially applies 

 to stable-dung, which, if allowed to accumulate in heaps with- 

 out being properly mixed, acquires a mouldy smell, and loses 

 so considerable a portion of the best part of its substance, that 

 its diminution in value has been estimated by a very expe- 

 rienced agriculturist at not less than from 50 to 75 per cent. 



Acting upon the principle of preserving dung, and rendering 

 it immediately available, it has been recommended to construct 



