226 TALKS ON MANURES. 



ing at all. Still we may infer that this top-dressing did considera- 

 ble good. Of one thing, however, there can be no doubt. This one 

 ton of earth manure contained only 1 Ib. more nitrogen and l|lb. 

 more phosphoric acid than a ton of the dry earth itself. Why 

 then did it prove so valuable as a top-dressing for grass ? I will 

 not say that it was due solely to the decomposition of the nitro- 

 genous matter and other plant-food in the earth, caused by the 

 working over and sifting and exposure to the air, and to the action 

 of the night-soil. Still it would seem that, so far as the beneficial 

 effect was due to the supply of plant-food, we must attribute it to 

 the earth itself rather than to the small amount of night-soil 

 which it contained. 



It is a very common thing in England, as I have said before, for 

 farmers to make a compost of the sods and earth from an old 

 hedge-row, ditch, or fence, and mix with it some lime or barn- 

 yard manure. Then, after turning it once or twice, and allow- 

 ing it to remain in the heap for a few months, to spread it on 

 meadow-land. I have seen great benefit apparently derived from 

 such a top-dressing. The young grass in the spring assumed a 

 rich, dark green color. I have observed the same effect where 

 coal-ashes were spread on grass-land; and I have thought that 

 the apparent benefit was due largely to the material acting ifl a 

 kind of mulch, rather than to its supplying plant-food to the grass. 



I doubt very much whether we can afford to make such a com- 

 post of earth with lime, ashes, or manure in this country. But I 

 feel sure that those of us having rich clay land containing, in an 

 inert form, as much nitrogen and phosphoric acid as Dr. Voelcker 

 found in the soil to bo used in the earth-closet at Wakefield, can 

 well afford to stir it freely, and expose it to the disintegrating and 

 decomposing action of the atmosphere. 



An acre of dry soil six inches deep weighs about 1,000 tons ; and 

 consequently an acre of such soil as we are talking about would 

 contain 6,200 Ibs. of nitrogen, and 3,600 Ibs. of phosphoric acid. In 

 other words, it contains to the depth of only six inches as much 

 nitrogen as would be furnished by 775 tons of common barn-yard 

 manure, and as much phosphoric acid as 900 tons of manure. 

 With such facts as these before us, am I to blame for urging farmers 

 to cultivate their land more thoroughly? I do not know that my 

 land or the Deacon's is as rich as this English soil ; but,at any rate, 

 I see no reason why such should not be the case. 



