ON MANURES. 53 



On strong soils, tarm-yard manure is very commonly applied 

 to a summer-tallow for wheat ; and when that process forms 

 part of the rotation, it is the opinion of most intelligent hus- 

 bandmen that it can at no time he more profitably employed. 

 The season is then so far advanced as to have afforded time for 

 the preparation of the winter dung, which, on clay-land, where 

 g'reen crops are not generally grown, and the practice of sum- 

 mer soiling is not adopted, is otherwise a difficult matter ; but 

 when applied to corn-crops, it should be either already decom- 

 posed, or, if ire'sh, it should be allowed to remain so long in the 

 ground, previous to the seed being sown, as to allow of its fer- 

 mentation being completed ; for it will otherwise occasion the 

 growth of weeds, which, if not eradicated, mn.y ripen before 

 the ensuing harvest, and thus infest tlie land with future foul- 

 ness. When the operation has been well performed, and the 

 ground has been thus completely cleansed, it is then found to 

 be so well divided, that, if minute attention be also paid to the 

 spreading of the dung, it becomes so thoroughly intermixed with 

 the soil as to insure a greater return than if it had been laid 

 on during any -other periods. The practice is also not uncom- 

 mon of laying it upon clover leys preparatory to a crop of 

 wheat, or of spreading it upon green-sward a };ear or two before 

 the land is broken up ; but the advantages of this latter mode 

 have been doubted by some, though many experienced practi- 

 cal farmers highly recommend it. 



On light land, on which the rotation of crops usually com- 

 mences with turnips, it has been found by experience that the 

 dung should be well rotted ; it is therefore generally mixed 

 twice, in order to get it into a fit state; but, as Swedes are 

 commonly put in the ground by the middle of ]\Iay, the manure 

 cannot be properly prepared by that time, unless the yards 

 have been cleared during the winter, and much of that which 

 is thus applied is over-year muck. This, when the crop is 

 drilled, is laid as evenly as possible in the hollows of one-bout 

 ridges, which are afterwards split by a double-mould-board 

 plough, which covers the dung, by turning them over, and the 

 seed is immediately sown above it ; but when sown broadcast, 

 it is regularly laid over the land, generally before the last 

 ploughing, though some farmers give it a second stirring*. 

 When potatoes are planted, the manure used is almost invaria- 

 bly stable-dung, when it can be procured in sufiicicnt quantity, 

 which is laid in a shallow seed furrow, immediately under — or, 



