180 A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



of lime and marl, although it may have failed to act when 

 used by itself; but it is only upon the varieties of deep argil- 

 laceous soils that it can be used with advantage. It is, indeed, 

 generally supposed that the power of the compost will be in- 

 creased if animal or vegetable matter be added; but the mix- 

 ture of quick-lime and dung can never be ad visible, for the 

 lime will render some of the most valuable parts of the dung 

 insoluble. 



Application. — The practice most usually followed in pre- 

 paring the compost is to trench and throw the moss up into 

 ridges, at the most convenient time after the autumn sowing, 

 that it may be dried and pulverized by the winter's frost; and 

 towards the latter end of February to turn it over and lay it 

 flat, when it will be found considerably lighter than when it 

 was first dug up. It is then mixed with the dung, and the 

 process of composition already stated is carried through until 

 it is ready to be laid upon tlie land. When made up in Janu- 

 ary, such composts are generally in good order for the spring 

 crops; but this may not happen in a long frost. In summer, 

 they are ready in eight or ten weeks; but if there should 

 exist any necessity for hastening the process, that can be ef- 

 fected by a slio'ht addition of ashes, rubbish from old buildings, 

 or of lime slaked with foul water, and applied to the dung 

 while the compost is being made up. 



Doubts have arisen respecting the proper season of laying 

 on this manure — some insisting that it should be applied to 

 spring crops — others, that it should be ploughed in for wheat 

 in the autumn; but we believe that its effect upon the land will, 

 in the long run, be found in either case equal. 



CHAPTER XV. 



MISCELLANEOUS MANURES CONTINUED. SEA-WARE — KELP — 



REFUSE FISH BLUBBER AND TRAIN-OIL. 



These manures being chiefly confined to the use of farmers 

 resident in the vicinity of our coasts, necessarily do not engage 

 much of the attention of thote who dwell in the interior of the 

 country; but they are of considerable importance wherever 



