MANURES. 19 



Horse-dung, and the dungs of sheep, deer, and of 

 rabbits, are most eligible for cold, wet soils ; and 

 all these, or any of these in compost with lime, will 

 be found beneficial. For such soils also, a compost 

 of coal-ashes, pigeon-dung, and lime ; or of wood- 

 ashes, whin-ashes, fern-ashes, and stable-dung ; or 

 of deer-dung, rabbits-dung, soot, and burnt sward, 

 will make a good manure. 



Manures being valuable in proportion to the salts 

 and the oils they contain, are to be applied in quan- 

 tity according to their quality. Hence the dung of 

 pigeons should be used in much smaller proportion 

 than that of horses, it containing a greater quantity 

 of volatile salts ; and so the ashes of vegetables 

 containing a portion of fixed alkaline salts, being 

 more powerful, are to be applied in still smaller 

 quantity. So also, lime, being the most powerful 

 of the calcareous kind, should be applied, in ordi- 

 nary cases, in much smaller quantity than marl. 



Vegetable mould may either be used as a simple, 

 or as a compound, and may be applied with equal 

 propriety to all soils. None can be hurt by it in 

 any degree, since almost every plant will grow 

 luxuriantly in it alone, without the aid of any 

 soil or manure whatever. It seems to be the am- 

 brosia, and the dunghil drainings, the nectar, of 

 vegetable life. The latter, however, if too freely 

 indulged in, is rather of an intoxicating nature. 



The importance and effect* of manure being now 



* We may briefly define the effects of manures, when pro- 

 perly applied, thus : Correcting tenacity, crudity, and porosi- 



