On the AgricuUure of the Netherlands. 



49 



bv the weight. on his back; and the lieavy Flanders horses are well 

 able to carry a man and draw a light load at the same time. When the 

 cask is empty the horse trots home for another load, and no time is lost. 

 It is astonishing what advantage there is in accustoming horses to trot 

 when they have no load; it actually fatigues them less than the conti- 

 nued sleepy walk. Who would suppose that the Flemish and Dutch 

 farmers surpassed us in activity ? but whoever has been in the Nether- 

 lands in hay-time or harvest must acknowledge it." — pp. 21, 22, 24. 



The value of cows' urine with other animal substances dissolved 

 in it is universally admitted by all the farmers of sandy soils in 

 the Netherlands : the theory of its preparation and application 

 to the soil remains, however, yet involved in some degree of ob- 

 scurity ; and some eminent chemists have doubted whether the col- 

 lection of it in a tank is the most economical mode of preparing it 

 for the soil. 



In the fourth number of this Journal there is a translation of a 

 very valuable Treatise on Animal ]Manures, by Sprengel, in 

 which (p. 474) it is more than insinuated, that the advantages of 

 the urine-tank are much over-rated ; and that it is better to mix 

 the solid and liquid parts of dung together, and form them into 

 composts with rich earth, as is often done in England and other 

 countries, than to preserve the flifid portion by itself in a tank, to 

 be used separately on the land, afier it has gone through a certain 

 stage of decomposition. Without disputing the correctness of 

 the chemical principles on which this opinion is founded, we may 

 hesitate before we condemn or undervalue a practice which has 

 produced such wonderful effects in the improvement of the poor 

 sands in the Netherlands. 



Liquid manure maybe applied to plants in every stage of their 

 growth, if it be judiciously diluted so as not to injure the young 

 and delicate roots by its caustic nature. It invigorates their 

 growth more than we could anticipate from a knowledge of its 

 solid component parts. It is no doubt sooner exhausted ; be- 

 cause it is rapidly absorbed by the roots, and its elements enter 

 into new combinations. If some of the more volatile parts, as 

 ammonia, fly off in the process of decomposition which goes on in 

 the tank, it is probable that a much greater portion of these ele- 

 ments fly off from the solid dung, while it remains in the ground 

 and before it is in a fit state to be taken up by the roots, wliich 

 can only happen when rain renders it liquid. All those who 

 have had long experience of the good effects of liquid manure on 

 light soils persevere in its use, whatever objections may be urged 

 theoretically to its being preserved separately. 



On stiff, impervious soils the use of liquid manure may not be 

 so advantageous, and the reasonings of chemists may be correct. 

 On these soils it is seldom used, except when they are in grass. 



