54 A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



in some cases, over the cuttings ; but care should be taken that 

 it be put so deep in the ground as to be out of the way of the 

 harrows, or, otherwise, their hold of the straw might occasion 

 the sets to be removed from their seed-bed. 



Even when bare fallows become necessary to clean the land, 

 soils of this description are rarely dunged when followed by 

 corn; for they are thereby rendered so open — especially if 

 long dung be used — thaj^ the plants are apt to be thrown out 

 by slight frost in the sprmg, and perish for want of a sufficient 

 hold of the ground. This necessity for the employment of 

 rotten dung not only lessens its bulk, but it must be also borne 

 iu mind that the same quantity of straw is not produced as 

 upon rich clays; and although the deficiency of manure thus 

 created may be partly made up by feeding sheep upon turnips, 

 as well as by a smaller quantity being used than upon strong 

 land, yet the exhaustion of light soils is more rapid ; they there-' 

 fore require more frequent replenishment, and no pains should 

 be spared to increase the amount of dung. 



On grass land in the neighbourhood of London, where the 

 finest meadow-hay in the kingdom is grown, dung of every 

 kind is laid on in all states, both fresh and rotten ; and much 

 town-manure, or street-slop, partly in a liquid state, is thrown 

 over the ground in the same condition as when taken out of 

 the carts and barges. It is a cold, clayey district, lying on the 

 north side of the Thames, in Hertfordshire and Middlesex, and 

 has been brought to its present fertility solely by the aid of an 

 unceasing application of manure; many of the farmers being 

 under covenants in their leases to lay on a thick coat of stable- 

 dung, thoroughly rotten, in every third year: others apply it 

 fresh, — in which state it is said that, 'load for load, it is to the 

 full as good as when rotten,' — and after it has been washed in 

 by the rain, the straw that remains is raked otf and added to 

 the dung-hill. There can perhaps be little doubt that dressing 

 the land with dung in a state of fermentation, when diluted 

 with water, is the surest way oi" imparting nourishment to 

 plants; and in that view, after the hay has been carried off" the 

 land, farmers watch for a change of weather, and, when the 

 barometer indicates an approaching fall of rain, they lay on 

 whatever manure they possess; but, if the season continues 

 settled, the dung remains untouched until about the end of 

 September, at which time it is applied while the ground is 

 sufficiently dry to bear the drawing of loaded carts without 



