AGRICULTURE. 



as much marl, turf, dry mud, loam, and 

 other applicable articles, as will cover its 

 surface to the depth of twelve inches. 

 If there be many hog-houses, stables, and 

 eow-stalls, that are cleansed into the yard, 

 on such spots these materials should be 

 spread more thickly. Bog peats, if near 

 at hand, should never be neglected. 

 These peats may be regarded as vegeta- 

 ble dunghills, and their easy accessibility 

 in this connection will be regarded as of 

 extreme utility and consequence. Before 

 foddering is begun, the whole yard 

 should be well littered, for which stub- 

 ble, fern, and leaves, are well adapted. 

 No money laid out by the farmer is more 

 wisely and successfully expended, than 

 that which he employs in procuring, at a 

 reasonable rate, great quantities of litter, 

 by which his cattle are enabled to lie dry 

 and warm, and the mass of manure which 

 he raises is much larger and cheaper 

 than he could procure in any othermode. 

 Fern abounds in alkaline salts, and must 

 therefore obviously produce very valua- 

 ble dung : it requires, however, to be 

 rotted well, and is more difficult to be so 

 than straw. In woodlands, leaves may be 

 collected at slight expence, and will make 

 admirable litter and dung. In the neigh- 

 bourhood of marshes, rushes, flags, and 

 coarse grass, may all be easily procured, 

 and will be exceedingly serviceable. 

 After these exertions and preparations, 

 the farmer must strictly confine his cattle 

 during the winter, not by tying them, as 

 some have done, but so as completely to 

 prevent their roaming in the adjoining 

 pastures. By thus confining all the cat- 

 tle upon straw, and turnips, and hay, as 

 may be requisite, the necessary quantity 

 of animal manure will be obtained to 

 make the compost of the several ingredi- 

 ents ferment, rot, and turn to rich ma- 

 nure, while, without these animal materi- 

 als, the heap might be large, but would 

 be of little value. The draining from the 

 yard should never run to waste, and, un- 

 less in extraordinary cases, such as ex- 

 tremely violent rains, this may be easily 

 prevented. An excellent method for this 

 purpose is the sinking a well in the low- 

 er part of the yard to fix a pump in ; by 

 which the water may be conveyed along 

 a trough to a large heap of marl, turf, 

 e-halk, and other appropriate materials, 

 which, by a daily application of this li- 

 quor, will be of little less value eventu- 

 ally than a heap of dung of the same 

 size. 



If the dung remains underwater, pu- 

 trefaction is stopped ; this, therefore, 



should be carefully guarded 

 Stirring the dung should also be avoided, 

 as the oils and alkaline salts are thus car- 

 ried off into the atmosphere, and it is not 

 merely rottenness that is wanted, and 

 particularly that dry rottenness thus pro- 

 duced, but such as exhibits a fat, oily, mu- 

 cilaginous appearance. It will be advisa- 

 ble, if practicable, to let it remain in the 

 yard unmoved, till the ground it is destin- 

 ed for is completely ready for its recep- 

 tion. If, for want of room in the yard, 

 it must be carted off into the field, let 

 the litter and the marl be well mixed in 

 filling the cart, and let the whole form, 

 under the shade of trees, if an opportu- 

 nity be afforded for it, a heap of about 

 four feet in thickness. 



The dung raised even by a few sheep 

 in a standing fold, under a shed construct- 

 ed expressly for the purpose, (for the 

 trouble and expence of one composed of 

 hurdles will overbalance its profits, un- 

 less upon a very large scale) is a consider- 

 able object, while the sheep under it are 

 at the same time warm and comfortable, 

 instead of being exposed to driving rains 

 and snow. 



Animal substances are very far prefer- 

 able as manures to fossil or vegetable 

 ones. Woollen rags, hogs' hair, hora 

 shavings, the offal of butcher's and fish- 

 monger's stalls, may be obtained in large 

 cities,and, whenever reasonably to be pro- 

 cured, should be eagerly caught at. With 

 regard to the dung of animals, that of 

 sheep is unquestionably the best. That 

 of horses fed upon corn and hay is justly 

 preferred to that of fatting cattle, which, 

 however, is greatly superior to that of lean 

 cattle, and particularly of cows, though 

 they may feed upon turnips. 



The practice of paring and burning is 

 pronounced by men of great philosophi- 

 cal sagacity and research, and who have 

 justly referred more to practical results 

 than to theoretical reasonings, to be of 

 the most decided advantage in the pre- 

 paration of land. It may be considered 

 as a practice safe on any soil, as in some 

 it is essentially necessary. That which 

 most of all requires it, and which it is 

 impossible by any other means to pulve- 

 rize, is what consists of moss, rushes, and 

 all kinds of coarse grass. It should be 

 exercised on moor and heath-fields, on ac- 

 count of the roots of the grass remaining- 

 in it, which are very stubborn and dura- 

 ble, and which check the growth of corn^ 

 turnips, and other vegetables, by depriv- 

 ing them of a certain portion of nourish- 

 ment. Thev serve Ivkewise as a harbour 



