ON MANURES. 197 



Weeds, also, by the sides of fences, should never be per- 

 mitted to perfect their seeds, but should be invariably cut 

 while in a state of succulence, and added to the heap; and if 

 those turned up by the process of horse-hoeing were also 

 raked otf, instead of being suffered to wither on the land, or 

 to spring up again with the next shower of rain, it is incon- 

 ceivable what a large quantity of valuable manure might thus 

 be raised by the occasional employment of children, and of 

 labourers, who may otherwise be idling away their time. It 

 would also contribute in a great degree to that neatness which 

 forms a distinguished feature in careful cultivation, and would 

 insure a habit of attention on the part of servants, and a con- 

 sequent portion of prosperity which can rarely be enjoyed by 

 a slovenly farmer. 



Were the practice of soiling more generally attended to, it 

 would also very materially aid the increase of the dung-heap, 

 without which no profit can be gained from arable land. But 

 a very small portion of the soil under the plough is, in this 

 country, capable of bearing crops, unless it be recruited by 

 putrescent manure about once in four years, or that it be 

 either suffered to lie for a more than usual length of time 

 under the cultivated grasses and fed oft' with cattle, or sup- 

 ported by the fold. To obtain the requisite quantity of farm- 

 yard manure has, however, baffled the best exertions of many 

 industrious farmers, except in the immediate vicinity of large 

 towns. There, indeed, the object is often obtained through 

 the means of purchased dung, the expense of which has been 

 generally amply repaid by the growth of proportionably in- 

 creased crops; but anyone who is dependent upon the produce 

 of his own farm, without the assistance of extraneous manure, 

 for the support of the fertility of the soil, should endeavour to 

 cultivate those crops which are best calculated to afford a 

 large return of food for the maintenance of cattle. When the 

 land is of such a nature as not to admit the growth of green 

 crops, hay and oil cake should be 'resorted to for that purpose. 



In other cases, lime, chalk, marl, and various other mineral 

 substances, have been resorted to as auxiliaries; but the effect 

 of some of these tending more to stimulate vegetation than to 

 enrich the wasted powers of the soil, it has frequently hap- 

 pened that ground which at one time had been greatly bene- 

 fited by their application, has afterwards been injured when 

 repeated under the erroneous notion that its powers might be 

 restored bv the same operation. Land thus forced, has in many 



