76 THE SOIL OF THE FARM. 



and enrich the ground by consuming quantities of cake 

 or corn along with it. 



On light soils, sheep-folding is in many cases universal 

 as a preparation for wheat; and it is the chief dependence 

 in all districts where the quantity of farm-yard manure is 

 insufficient. Poor clay may likewise be speedily rendered 

 fertile by heavily folding in summer time and dry weather 

 with sheep fed on cake, grain, and hay, in addition to 

 vetches, cabbages, or other green crop brought to them. 

 The practice is often as advantageously followed on grass 

 land as on arable. On wet, undrained land, and stiff 

 clays, folding is injurious, unless it is done in very dry 

 weather. 



An acre of good clover may feed more than one hun- 

 dred sheep one week ; and an acre of turnips may feed 

 two hundred and forty sheep for the same period. Say 

 that a sheep consumes, and wastes together, twenty- 

 eight pounds of roots daily. Then eighty sheep will con- 

 sume one ton daily ; and two hundred and forty sheep 

 will feed off a crop of twenty-one tons in a week. 



Composts are mixtures of fertilizing substances, which, 

 being allowed to undergo chemical changes for a con- 

 siderable time in heaps, become more valuable than they 

 could have been if applied separately. Peat, road-scrap- 

 ings, clearings of ditches, weeds, loaves, lime and farm- 

 yard manures, are the substances used to form composts. 



Since the introduction of artificial and light manures, 

 the mixing of heavy materials, earth and lime, etc., 

 with other manuring substances seldom pays for the 

 labor expeuded. 



On the other hand, many of the artificial manures are 

 best applied to the soil in the form of compost, i.e,, 

 mixed with some bulky material of less value in order to 

 its more even distribution. 



