HOME MANURE. 73 



the clover lea is broken up. The quantity applied is 

 usually from ten to twelve tons per acre. 



On meadows and grass lauds, autumn manuring is 

 best, but it is not desirable to use fresh and unrotted 

 dung in this case, and it is best applied in the form of 

 compost. From ten to fifteen cart-loads per acre maybe 

 given on grass land, according to the length of time it is 

 intended to last. 



The old plan of bestowing all the manure for a rotation 

 on one crop is now being less followed. Although some 

 crops benefit more by an application of dung than others, 

 it is deemed better to use it oftener, and to give less of it 

 at once ; and as only a given amount can be produced for 

 each acre, the smaller dressing has to be supplemented 

 with artificial manures. 



Green l^Ianures. — This is the term given to crops 

 which are grown for the purpose of being plowed in on 

 the land which produced them. This was once a com- 

 mon practice, but the availability of commercial fer- 

 tilizers, combined Avith the high prices obtainable for ])eef 

 and mutton, has rendered the farmer more careless than 

 he once was of the slower and more natural methods of 

 maintaining or increasing fertility. 



By plowing in a green crop, the surface soil is enriched 

 not only by the elements which the crop derived from 

 the air, but also by mineral and vegetable matters which 

 were brought up by it from the subsoil. The green crop 

 thus acts the part of a gatherer of plant food, and makes 

 it easier for any crop sown after this green-manuring to 

 get its supplies from the decomposing vegetation present 

 m the soil. 



The plants best adapted for green-manuring, are those 

 which derive their support principally from the air, 

 which grow rapidly, which cover the ground well, and 

 4 



