CHAP. L COMPOSTS AND SEA-WEED. 1011 



3. The manure being speedily mixed with the earth, should be 

 buried at a proper depth. On most soils from three to four inches 

 will be a sufficient depth. 



4. In order to prevent any undue evaporation from taking place in 

 hot, windy, or dry weather, care should be taken not to cart out more 

 from the dung-stead than can be properly dispersed shortly after- 

 wards, neither should it be shovelled about more than is absolutely 

 necessary. 



COMPOSTS. These are of less value and importance now than in 

 former days when artificial fertility was only obtainable with difficulty. 

 The low price of artificial fertilisers has caused farmers to abandon 

 the labour that used to be bestowed upon the compost heap. They 

 are composed, as their name implies, of the most heterogeneous 

 materials, including animal and plant refuse, road-scrapings, ditch- 

 cleanings, and lime. To promote the fermentation of the heap it 

 should be well mixed, sheltered from the rain, and covered with a 

 layer of earth. 



SB A- WEED. This constitutes a useful manure available on farms 

 near the sea, though from its bulky nature it cannot be profitably 

 carried to a distance. It is largely used in Jersey, where it contributes 

 materially to the maintenance of that rich condition for which, despite 

 their natural poverty, the Jersey soils are remarkable. In many parts 

 of Ireland it is a favourite manure with the peasants near the coast. 

 It is also employed on the east coast of Scotland. When fresh it has 

 much the value of farm-yard manure, and becomes more valuable in 

 proportion as it loses its water. 



CHAPTER II. 

 ON ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 



ARTIFICIAL manures are chiefly valuable on account of their concen- 

 tration and consequent easy portability. They differ from dung mainly 

 in that they merely supply the soil with plant food, and do not also 

 depend for their effect, as the bulky material of dung does, upon their 

 secondary or mechanical action on the texture and properties of the 

 soil. 



The term " artificial " as applied to manures is not easy to define, 

 but we shall here use it in the sense of " purchasable " manure (exclud- 

 ing dung, which, it is true, is sometimes bought). Lime, chalk, &c., 



3 T 2 



