ON MANURES. 183 



ploughed into the land without that preparation, it should 

 be mixed with a small quantity of quick-lime or strong 

 ashes, for all oily substances are hurtful to vegetation until 

 they are dissolved. We hear, indeed, of a crop of wheat 

 having been rendered so rank in straw by the application 

 of herrings in a raw state, that it was entirely laid before 

 harvest; and sprats are said to produce great effects for 

 one year upon the hop-grounds in the neighbourhood of the 

 Medvvay ; but we have no information regarding the state of 

 the soil, nor the time of the year, when the former were 

 ploughed into the ground, nor whether the latter had not also 

 been laid upon the land toget -er with some alkaline manure. 



Oil. — As all writers on the application of train-oil and 

 blubber, as manure, agree in their opinion that it should be 

 made into a compost, with a large portion of earth,* and the 

 experience of practical men in this country has proved its 

 correctness, we do not think it necessary to enlarge on the 

 subject, further than to remark, that in some parts of the con- 

 tinent, oil has been found highly fertilizing when applieu to 

 the land in its liquid state, diluted with a sufficient quantity 

 of water, and spread moderatelv over the surface. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



MISCELLANEOUS MANURES CONTINUED. FELLMONGERS' POAKE 



AND CUTTINGS TANNERS' BARK WOOLEN RAGS AND 



furriers' CLIPPINGS SUGAR SCUM. 



In consequence of the improvements in husbandry, attempts, 

 which in former times were little thought of, were very gene- 

 rally made to increase the natural powers of the soil by the 

 application of every refuse vegetable and animal substance 

 that could be converted into manure. Among these are some 

 of those which form the subject of the present chapter ; but 

 being only procurable in the neighborhood of towns, and con- 



*Dr. Hunter advises, in his Geological Essays, a compost formed of 12 lbs. 

 of American potash dissolved in four gallons of water, mixed vk'ith 20 bushels 

 of dry mold and 14 gallons of train-oil. 



