( 66 } 
ously bad. We have seen, in the preceding article, 
that dung, to become the aliment of plants, must 
undergo a decomposition, and that to the produc- 
tion of this, the combined action of air and water is 
indispensible. But if the manure be buried deeply, 
this action cannot reach it, and the dung remains a 
caput mortuum. On the other hand, if spread su- 
perficially, the rains dissolve and carry away many 
of its juices, while the sun and wind evaporate the 
rest. These considerations lead to the true rule, on 
this head, which is, to lay it three or four inches be- 
low the surface of the soil. At this depth, (if short 
dung) its action will be most vigorous in all direc- 
tions, and if long dung, a greater depth will, as al- 
ready suggested, completely destroy all action, 
3d. Are extraneous matters, as horns, hoofs, 
bones, shells, feathers, leaves, weeds, &c. &c. to be 
admitted into the dung heap? 
There is, perhaps, nothing in either theory or 
practice, so obviously right that may not be disput- 
ed. The objection made to these matters, in mass, 
is, that they do not decompose equally, and that 
those ingredients of the beap, which are slowest in 
decomposition, retard others, which, if left to them- 
selves, would, in this process, be more forward.— 
This objection is without weight ; fer we have seen, 
that long, or unrotted manure, though its effect be 
less prompt, is, upon the whole, more favorable to 
culture, than that which is rotted. The difference 
Of tine in decomposition, is, therefore, no evil, and 
the augmentation of the mass, is a great good ; be- 
sides that some of these offals are the most power- 
