40 A TRACTICAL TREATISE 



down to the bulk, weight, and consistency thoug-ht most expe- 

 dient, or usually allowed, to put it and a ton of fresh dung of 

 the same sort on equal spaces of very poor land, and weigh the 

 produce of the three following crops; by which means the 

 matter would soon be set at rest, and, with the majority of 

 farmers, a greater uniformity observed in the management of 

 this division of their business,' We accordingly extract a com- 

 parative experiment made by an intelligent practical farmer 

 on three kinds of manure, and on a cultivated soil witliout ma- 

 nure — half a rood of ground being allowed for each — as fol- 

 lows : — 



Successive Crops and Produce from a single application of the following 

 Quantities, viz : — 

 Fresli stable-dung Eotten dung, Dry Barley-straw No 



in a strawy state. Sioonthsold, buret on the ground, manure. 

 3 tons. 2 tons. 15 cwt. 



PER ACRE. PER ACRE. PER ACRE. PER ACRE. 



1st crop Turnips, 18cwt. 6st. 61b. 16cwt. lst.41b. 8cwt. 3st. 7 lb. 1st. 8 lb. 

 2d crop Barley, 30 bush. 2 pks. 36 bush. 3 pks. 30 bush. 1 pk. 14 bush. 



3pks. 

 3d crop Clover, 20cwt. 21cwt. IScwt. Scwt. 



4th crop, Oats, 38 bush. 40 bush. 18 bush. 32 bush. 



As to the feed after the clover, it was about equal to the 

 expense of getting in each crop respectively, with a small sur- 

 plus on the plot manured with rotten dung. 



To complete this experiment, there should, however, have 

 been a notice added of the proportion of w^eight which fresh 

 stable-dung would lose w^ithin eight months; for three tons 

 would scarcely, at the expiration of that time, amount to more 

 than half that quantity of completely rotted dung; though 

 when farm-yard manure is reduced one-third in weight, the 

 fermentation may be, in most cases, considered as far enough 

 advanced for the general purposes of agriculture. Supposing 

 the original quantities to have been equal, the above experi- 

 ment would be, in every part of the rotation, in favour of rotted 

 dung, with the exception of the inferiority of the turnip-crop, 

 which, in this instance, remarkably contradicts the practice of 

 its application ; though, without more clear information regard- 

 ing the soil, the culture, and the weather, no positive conclu- 

 sion can be drawn from that fact. 



In his remarks upon the formation of dung-heaps, Sir 

 Humphrey justly observes — ' that an immeasurable quantity 

 of substance disposed for conversion into food for plants is suf- 

 fered to escape in the form of drainings and vapour. During 

 the violent fermentation which is necessary for reducing farni- 

 yard manure to the state in which it is called " short-miick^'^ 



