CHAP. i. DUNGHILLS. 1007 



this operation should be repeated often enough to prevent the ferment' 

 ing process from ever proceeding farther than may be necessary for 

 the destruction of the seeds of weeds, and the decomposition of the 

 woody fibre of the vegetable matter contained in them. The better 

 way, however, to check undue fermentation is by pumping on it the 

 contents of the liquid manure tank, which contains the excretions of 

 the stock. This, indeed, is said by good authorities to be the best 

 way of using the liquid excretions of the farm. Where " fresh " or 

 "long" manure, as it is called, or unfermented dung, is required, the 

 more it is compressed in the heap the better. When "rotten "or 

 "short" manure is desired, the heap is kept as light as possible, and 

 open to the air. How to insure these two conditions we have already 

 shown. 



The following method of making dunghills, as practised in Middle- 

 sex, was given in Mr. Middleton's Survey of that county. In the first 

 place, all the scrapings of roads, mud of ditches and ponds, and the 

 top-mould of gravel-pits, are spread in the most convenient spots, 

 as bottoms for dunghills. On to these layers is carted all the dung 

 produced on the farm, together with the whole of what can be obtained 

 from London and the various inns on the road, and to these things 

 are occasionally added chalk, ashes, soap-boilers' waste, bricklayers' 

 rubbish, &c. In this state the mass or heap continues until within 

 one month of the time for manuring the land; the whole is then 

 turned and thorough!}' mixed together, the larger clods being broken 

 into small pieces, and the drier parts thrown into the middle. In 

 consequence of this management, the mass becomes more intimately 

 blended, and the putrefactive process is completely finished, while the 

 different substances remain in a heap. At the same time, by this 

 method of forming the basis of dung-hills, the fertilising liquor which 

 distils during the fermentation and heat that necessarily ensue is 

 effectually preserved, and greatly contributes to ameliorate the soil. 



Mr. Thompson, of Kirb}^ Hall, recommends " to have a pit dug in 

 the earth into which to throw manures ; the bottom of the pit is water- 

 tight, and has a slope towards the centre, where a tank is placed, so as 

 to receive the drainings from the manure, which drainage is frequently 

 poured over the manure, in order to keep up a regular but not ex- 

 cessive fermentation." He has all the vegetable refuse of the farm 

 collected and spread over the bottom of the pit in a. layer of six or 

 eight inches thick, and on to this the manure or dung is carted. 

 When the manure is wanted for immediate use, it should be lightly 

 thrown together, and, after being well soaked with the tank-liquor, it 

 should be covered with a thin layer of the soil, to absorb the volatile 

 gases. If it is to be kept six months or more, it should be compressed, 

 and thickly covered with soil or charred peat, so as almost entirely to 

 exclude air. 1 



The most convenient situations for dunghills are contiguous to the 

 stables and ox-stalls, to which another may be added near the house 



J Journal of the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, No. 6. 



