190 A PRACTICAL TREATISE 



of soil, these different practices cannot be right. It therefore 

 becomes necessary to consider what is the usual composition 

 of the sediment of ponds, — tlien to point out, as correctly as 

 we are able, the best way of preparinfr it for use — the soils to 

 which it should be. applied — and the crops which ought to 

 succeed such application. "(") 



Upon this it may be observed, that ponds, being usually 

 placed at the lower part of the fields, receive after every hard 

 rain a part of the soil, as well as of the substances with which 

 they have been manured. If the ponds be large and deep, 

 they may also acquire much decayed vegetable matter, arising 

 from the aquatic plants with which such pools usually abound ; 

 and if near to the yards at which cattle are commonly watered, 

 they must likewise receive a portion of their dung: such mud 

 is therefore, particularly applicable to light soils, both as con- 

 taining nutritive matter, and ad4ing to the staple and con- 

 sistency of tlie land. If, on the contrary, the ponds contain 

 springs, the sediment taken from them will be found unfit for 

 vegetation, for it contains more sand than vegetable matter, 

 and it hardens upon exposure to the sun; it may, however, be 

 useful in killing the rushes and coarse weeds upon low sour 

 meadows, but prejudicial if applied to uplands. It is therefore 

 evident that the mud must partake of the nature of the various 

 ingredients of which it is composed ; and therefo' e every 

 farmer should take these circumstances into consideration 

 before he applies it to his ground. 



The most common time of mudding ponds is during the 

 summer months, when it is usual to let the slime lie near the 

 edge of the pond until the water is drained from it. A spot 

 is then marked, either upon a headland of the field upon which 

 it is to be laid, or as near to it as possible, of a size to raise a 

 compost with alternate layers of either lime or dung. If dung 

 can be had, the best mode of preparing this manure is to lay a 

 foundation of mud, of about a foot or a foot and a half in depth, 

 of an oblong form, and not more than eight feet in width 

 upon which the freshest yard dung is laid to about double that 

 depth; then a thin layer of mud; after which, alternate layers 

 of mud and dung, until the heap be raised to about five or six 

 feet in height — keeping the sides and ends square, and coating 

 the whole with mud. It should then be left to ferment; after 



(a) [Pond mud should lay out one winter in low heaps. In the spring 

 make up into compost.] 



