UHAP. I. APPLICATION OF DUNG TO THE LAND. 100& 



which farmyard manure should be applied to the land ; but it is 

 evident that this must depend upon the special purposes for which the 

 application is made. Adhesive soils generally are most benefited by 

 manures only slightly fermented : the increased bulk of the manure, 

 in such cases, serving to keep soils of this class more open, which 

 effect is still further increased by the decomposition of the manure 

 being ultimately completed in the soil itself. The lighter classes of 

 soils, on the contrary, require consolidation, and are more benefited 

 by the application of well-fermented manure, which does not loosen 

 the land to the extent that long dung does. 



" The chief application of farmyard manure is to the raising of root 

 or green crops, in which cases it is deposited in the drills, and covered 

 up by the plough. It is also applied to fallows intended for wheat, 

 being then equalty distributed over the surface, and covered by a light 

 ploughing immediately before sowing the seed ; but the more general 

 introduction of green crops and other improvements in agriculture 

 having rendered this expensive preparation for wheat less necessary 

 than formerly, its application for this purpose is becoming annually 

 more limited. Its effects as a top-dressing to meadow-lands are alsa 

 well known, though, being usually deficient in quantity for other 

 purposes, its application for this object, unless in the vicinity of large 

 towns, is not very extensive. As already remarked, it is suited for all 

 soils and all crops. When it is limited in quantity, and artificial 

 manures are employed as auxiliaries, it should be applied to the less 

 distant fields of the farm, to economise labour in carting. It may also 

 be advantageously used in association with artificial manures, and this 

 is perhaps the preferable practice. It differs from them in one impor- 

 tant particular, in that it is not adapted for the drill, or for application 

 to growing crops. For these purposes artificial manures are eminently 

 suited, and consequently in many cases derive much of their value. 



" The usual mode of applying manure to green crops is to deposit 

 it in the drills immediately under the seeds, but it is also frequently 

 spread over the surface of the ground during the following operations. 

 In this case it becomes thoroughly incorporated with the soil during 

 the preparation which it undergoes for the crop. It is no slight 

 advantage to have the labour of the application of the manure over in 

 the spring, when the operations of the farm are necessarily hurried, 

 however perfect the arrangements may be for this performance, and 

 adequate the force employed for the purpose. The perfection of 

 cultivation consists in the high degree of pulverisation attained as a 

 preparation for the various crops included under the denomination of 

 green crops, and the maintenance of this highly-pulverised state is not 

 less necessary than its production, in order that the resources of the 

 soil may be developed to their fullest extent ; but every farmer is 

 aware how much this is interfered with by the cartage of the manure 

 when the tillages are nearly completed. Much of the dung applied to 

 root-crops is made after January, and cannot therefore be applied 

 earlier, but as large a quantity as is practicable should be got upon 

 the land in the winter months. Its effects on the crop have also been 



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