ON MANURES. ' 189 



two or three months in this state, it is in excellent condition 

 for putting- on the land. 



This, however, only alludes to its employment as a com- 

 post; but if laid in its natural state, either as a top-dressing 

 upon meadow of a stiff nature, or slig-htly ploughed in upon 

 heavy arable land, it will be found to eftect a permanent im- 

 provement in the soil. It must, in the latter case, however, 

 be laid on in very large quantities; perhaps not less than two 

 to three hundred cart-loads or cubic yards.* This, of course, 

 cannot be accomplished with prudence, unless the sand lies 

 either under the clay, or in the immediate vicinity of the 

 farm ; and even in that case, the expense of cartage, if calcu- 

 lated at its cost in money, would appear too serious to admit 

 of much chance of profitable remuneration. Many circum- 

 stances are, however, continually occurring on every farm to 

 prevent the constant occupation of teams: on those days they 

 may be invariably employed in the cartage of the sand, with- 

 out any charge except that of day-labourers to dig; and if it 

 cannot be immediately spread upon the land, it may be laid 

 up on the headlands of the field to which it is intended to be 

 applied. 



Mud. — The mud from ponds, when they are cleaned out, 

 has always been an object of attention to farmers, so far as 

 regards its collection; but it must be presumed that its dif- 

 ferent properties, and consequently the most judicious mode 

 of its application to the land, are either but little understood, 

 or neglected: for some cart it directly upon the ground, and 

 plough it in either for turnips, or for corn-crops; others spread 

 it upon old leys; and many lay it out in thin heaps to dry, 

 after which they mix it with lime, chalk or dung. Upon this 

 it has been remarked by an eminent agriculturist, "that in 

 reasoning with the farmers upon the cause or principle by 

 which they are guided in those diflferent proceedings, the 

 reply is generally, ' that it has been their practice to do so — 

 that it has answered very well — and that they know of no 

 better mode of treating it.' From which we are necessarily 

 led to conclude, that upon the same, or nearly the same sort 



*It has been laid on a large extent of drained moss, in Dumfriesshire, at 

 the rate of a single-horse cart-load to every square yard of surface, though 

 the land was in such a soft state that the sand could only be carted by horses 

 with wooden clogs or pattens on their hind feet. The expense must, there- 

 fore, have been enormous ; yet the improvement in the land seems to have 

 reimbursed the proprietor.— See Dr. Singer's Survey, p. 309. 



