INTRODUCTION. 3 



attention than it so eminently deserves ; and, in short, that it is 

 much neglected by many who are accounted not merely intelligent, 

 but scientific agriculturists ; and while admitting that much valuable 

 information has been frequently given to the agricultural world by 

 the repeated experiments of several enterprising individuals both in 

 Scotland and England, he still most urgently recommends a careful 

 study of this part of the work, which will probably lead the reader 

 to the conclusion that the methods and practice recommended by the 

 Author are, upon the whole, those best worthy of adoption. In 

 page 260 will be found some very urgent warnings against what 

 he (M. Boussingault) regards as the prevalent and pernicious cus- 

 tom of turning dung-heaps " frequently." If, however, by the term 

 " frequently," a course not exceeding three complete turnings of the 

 heap be comprehended, the Editor can by no means coincide with 

 this opinion ; a long experience having convinced him that there 

 are many circumstances under which the Author's recommendations 

 would be found not merely over-cautious, but positively injurious. 

 For drill crops, for instance, when it happens that the farm-dung is 

 somewhat rough, which must generally be the case towards the 

 close of every season, when the animal dejections are scanty and 

 the great bulk of the already ripened manure has been carried out 

 upon the land, and the fresh additions have not had the advantage 

 of being compounded with matter already concocted, an extra turn- 

 ing is very advantageous. 



Every farmer will, of course, turn his heap once, for the purpose 

 of thoroughly mixing the various ingredients and different qualities 

 of manure which it contains ; the extra turning, even admitting that 

 it may to a certain extent promote the over-decomposition of the 

 manure, and dissipate the ammoniacal principles which it is impor- 

 tant to preserve, is not attended with so great a loss in this respect 

 as that which is inevitable from keeping open the drill by the appli- 

 cation of coarse dung, which cannot fail to be attended with a most 

 serious loss of the more volatile principles, sometimes even laying 

 the manure quite bare, and in the case of turnips, materially ob- 

 structing the operation of sowing. 



Our Author brings forward the authority of several eminent inqui- 

 rers in support of his own favorite view of the use of fresh or un- 

 fermented manure ; but however plausible their theories may appear, 

 and however just may be their views in the abstract, there are many 

 intermitting circumstances connected with the general economy of 

 a farm, which must govern and determine their adoption, and in 

 which the practical cultivator must be guided by his own judgment 

 alone. 



To the Author's 6th chapter the reader may be advantageously 

 referred, as containing a very full and valuable description and dis- 

 cussion, under the head of mineral manures, of the different varieties 

 of the class usually denominated stimulants, and concluding with a 

 brief but lucid and interesting account of Water, considered as an 

 agent of vegetation, and of its importance for manuring purposes. 



The composition and preparation of liquid manures, as well asth« 



