162 A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



ground to be exhausted within four years; but on grass-land 

 depastured it is considered to last during- eight. 



Experience seems to be in favour of laying the manure in 

 di'ills, especially when applied to turnips, although the su- 

 periority of the broadcast practice is maintained by some very 

 intelligent farmers, who hold — that the turnip plant receives 

 its support principally from the fibres which it throws out 

 sideways, to a much greater length than people will believe, 

 and derives more nourishment from them than the tap-root; 

 and that the bones being dispersed, the fibres are more likely 

 to meet with them than when they are accumulated round a 

 tap-root; and that method must be the best which occasions 

 the greater quantity of nourishment to be conveyed to the 

 body of the turnip. In drilling the bones, there is also a diffi- 

 culty found in the after-ploughing, of mixing them with the 

 soil: and although this may be in some measure obviated by 

 cross-ploughing the ridges, yet that portion of the land ou 

 which the manure is thus laid receives more than an equal 

 degree of benefit. A third mode is however acted upon by 

 others, who sow them broadcast, and gather them into ridges 

 with a mould-plough. 



The time for laying them upon the land, when applied to 

 grass, whether natural or artificial, is generally recommended 

 to be early in the spring; but if upon meadow, the growth of 

 which has been fed off", then the moment the cattle are re- 

 moved. Experience, however, varies upon this point; because 

 it has been found materially to depend upon the season and 

 the state of the land, which, if wet, will be more benefited by 

 delaying the operation until the weather becomes warm and 

 the ground dry. 



When applied in the drills of arable land, they are of course 

 deposited along with the seed; but when spread broadcast, 

 then they are not uncommonly either harrowed in immediately 

 previous to the sowing, or with the last ploughing; though, 

 when used in a fresh state without having been subjected to 

 the process of maufacture, they should always be laid in suf- 

 ficiently long before the sowing, to allow them time to fer- 

 ment, or they will not take immediate effect upon the rising' 

 crop.* 



The soils to which they are best adapted are those of a 

 light and warm nature; for on wet and cold grounds they 



*Doncaster Report, p. 16. 



