188 ' A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



it is dug with less labour, and does not require any furthei 

 trouble in its preparation. Its application as an alterative for 

 stiff clay land is of the greatest advantage; for its intermix- 

 ture with the soil — which is effected by various means — has a 

 tendency to lighten the land, and to bring it to that loamy 

 state which is the most favourable to the purposes of vegeta- 

 tion. In this respect its action is the counterpart to that of 

 marl, as applied to light sandy ground ; for in both cases it is 

 the interest of the farmer to bring his land into that state 

 which is the most likely to be productive. Marl, by stiffening 

 it, produces this effect in the one instance; and sand, by 

 loosening it, in the other. 



Until about half a century ago, this plan was very little 

 known as an improvement to the soil, when a spirited agri- 

 culturist in Cheshire began to use considerable quantities; 

 sometimes mixing it wath dung, and sometin)es laying it raw 

 on his grass-lands. The success which mvariably attended 

 these experiments, at length induced several farmers in his 

 neighbourhood to follow his example, and the practice has 

 since been very generally adopted in many of the principal 

 dairy-farms in the middle of the county: deep beds of sand 

 being there frequently met with under the clay, which pre- 

 dominates as the superficial stratum of the soil. The mode 

 of employing it is thus described by a landowner who has 

 employed it extensively with the greatest advantage: — 



' When there is a piece of strong clay-land in tillage, and 

 the farmer has an opportunity of covering it over with sand, 

 about twice as thick as in a common set of manure, the soil 

 will be pulverized and opened by this means — will give 

 better crops when in tillage, and when laid down will produce 

 a finer herbage, less liable to be parched in dry, or trod down 

 in wet seasons. It is excellent management in the farmer, 

 before he ties up his cattle for winter, to lay a coat of sand, 

 at least a foot in thickness, where he intends to throw his 

 dung out of the cow-houses. The dung should be repeatedly 

 levelled on the sand, and a second coat of the latter laid on 

 towards the end of February ; upon which should be put the 

 remainder of the dung procured before the cattle go to grass. 

 As soon after this time as possible, the compost should be 

 either turned and well mixed where it lies, or filled into the 

 dung-carts, and taken away to some situation near the land on 

 which it is intended to U5« it. Here it should be laid in a 

 heap of at least two yards in thickness; and after remainino* 



