68 CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



CHAPTER FIFTH. 

 MANURES FOR THE WHEAT CROP. 



45. Farm-yard manure, or dung, possessing as it does all 

 the manurial constituents required for farm crops, would be 

 all that is necessary for the wheat crop if it could al- 

 ways be obtained in sufficient quantities. Without an appli- 

 cation of it, indeed, to the soil in which the wheat is grown, 

 the crop does not thrive so well as is desirable, for the straw 

 is strengthened by it, while the yield of grain is decidedly in- 

 creased. Should, however, a moderate quantity of it be ob- 

 tained, then the Bother artificial manures, which will pre- 

 sently be described, will be applied with great advantage. 

 "When farm-yard manure, or dung, is applied to the land in 

 liberal quantities for the wheat, it should not be applied 

 directly to the crop, but rather to the preceding crop of 

 pulse, clover, or root crop ; for if this is done, all those ac- 

 tive ingredients are taken up by these preceding crops, which, 

 if given to the wheat crop directly, would only force an abun- 

 dance of straw, to the detriment of the grain, while, on the 

 contrary, the ingredients left by these crops leave the land 

 in a proper heart for the wheat. If a naked fallow precedes 

 the wheat crop, the dung should be applied to the land as 

 early in the summer as possible. The practice, therefore, 

 of manuring in the autumn directly for the wheat is objec- 

 tionable. In the Midland Counties the plan is often 

 adopted of giving four or five loads of dung to the acre, 

 and half a folding with sheep, as a good manuring for the 

 wheat crop. A large proportion of land is manured for 

 wheat, especially upon dry soils, by the folding of sheep 

 alone ; it consolidates the soil, and kills, or at least lessens 

 the ravages of, insects. To fold sheep upon fallows is also 

 often of advantage ; while the same may be said of it when 

 practised upon light soils after sowing the seed. Green 

 crops are sometimes ploughed in directly, instead of eating 

 them off with sheep ; opinion is divided as to which is 



