66 



MIXED MANURES CONSIDERED. 



nient of animals, as of plants, nothing is annihilated, but merely changed : 

 what escapes into the atmosphere is counterbalanced by what is absorbed 

 from it ; and what is embodied in the animal during life, is restored to the 

 soil at its death. 



213. Application of Manures.— Too much manure is injurious to all crops 

 whatever, by increasing the proportion of watery matter, and by producing 

 such an exuberance of growth as to prevent the maturation of the parts, 

 the formation of blossom-buds, and the setting of fruit. It is particularly 

 injurious to corn -crops ; produces more sap than can be properly elaborated 

 in the leaves, and hence disease. In this case the evil is counteracted by 

 the application of lime or common salt. 



214. All mineral manures ought to be emploj^ed in a dry and powdery- 

 state, and if possible, when the soil is equally dry and powdery ; and all 

 moist manures, when the soil is somewhat drier than the manure. Other 

 circumstances being the same, spring is better than autumn for applying 

 manures, because the winter might wash them away, &:c.; but universally, the 

 proper time is immediately before sowing or planting the crop. Calm weather 

 is better than windy weather, and bulky manure ought no sooner to be laid 

 on than buried in the soil. Exhausting land of the manure which it contains 

 by over-cropping, is like depriving a commercial man of his capital. 



215. In consequence of the great value of manures m increasing the 

 amount of the produce of land, many ingenious persons have contrived 

 mixtures which, in small bulk, they allege will produce extraordinary 

 effects ; and this idea seems to have been long since indulged by some 

 writers. Lord Kaimes, nearly a century ago, thought the time might come 

 when the quantity of manure requisite for an acre might be carried in a 

 man's coat-pocket ; a recent author speaks of " a quart of spu-it sufficient to 

 manure an acre ; " and even Liebig saj^s, that " a time wUl come when 

 fields will be manured with a solution of glass (silicate of potash), with the 

 ashes of burned straw, and with salts of phosphoric acid prepared in chemi- 

 cal manufactories, exactly as at present medicines are given for fever and 

 goitre." {Organic Chemistry^ p. 188.) To those who believe in the homoeo- 

 pathic hypotheses of medicine such speculations will not appear unreasonable; 

 and there may be some truth in them, on the supposition that the soil to 

 which these small doses of spirit, or of silicate of potash, are to be applied, 

 are to act as stimulants to the organic matter already in the soU ; but to 

 ordinary apprehensions it seems difficult to conceive how bulk and weight of 

 produce can be raised without the application of a certain degree of bulk of 

 manure. All deference, however, ought to be paid to the opinions of 

 philosophers who, like Liebig, have profoundly studied the subject. {See 

 the notes to this chapter in our Appendix.) 



216. All the manures mentioned in this section are easily obtained by the 

 possessors of suburban villas. Soot and ashes are produced on their own 

 premises ; compost may be formed by the mixture of various articles col- 

 lected or procured ; liquids abound, and have only to be collected and pro- 

 perly fermented ; and street manure may ui general be purchased from the 

 nearest town. It cannot be too strongly impressed on the possessor of a 

 country residence who wishes to make the most of it, that no particle of 

 organic matter, whether animal or vegetable, and no drop of water, with 

 whatever it may be discoloured, ought to be left uncollected or allowed to 

 Yun to waste. 



