Farming of Northamptonshire. 



75 



litter ; — these and many other plans are adopted by the farmers 

 of this county in order to increase the supply of manure. 



Great difference of opinion and diversity of practice exist 

 amongst practical men with regard to the management and appli- 

 cation of manure ; some prefer carting it out from the yard or 

 stalls to the dunghill, there to lie some time together, and ferment 

 and decompose before it is applied to the land ; others take it 

 direct from the yard in an unfermented state on to the land ; or if 

 the land is not ready for its application, and they wish to remove 

 it to the field, it is carted over very firmly to prevent fermenta- 

 tion, and covered over with earth. It is generally found that 

 " rotten dung," as it is called, acts the most speedily ; but it 

 is urged that by letting it ferment and decompose before its 

 application a considerable part of its soluble and valuable quali- 

 ties are thereby lost, and that an earlier application, although not 

 so immediate in its effects, is permanently more advantageous. 



Farm-yard manure is generally applied to the green and root 

 crops on the light soils. On the stiff soils, when they are dead 

 fallowed for wheat, the sheepfold is applied, and an addition of 

 manure to complete what may not have been folded. When 

 beans are planted previous to a crop of wheat, the manure is 

 applied to the bean crop, thereby assisting the growth of the 

 beans and renderino; the land in ffood condition for the succeedins- 

 wheat crop. In the autumn, should there be a surplus of manure 

 after the fallow-crops have been manured, it is either applied to 

 the clover-ley, or to the land intended for winter tares, or rye. 

 The latter plan is very advantageous on light land ; it facilitates 

 the growth of the tares ; and when consumed, the decomposed 

 manure will render the land in good condition for a crop of white 

 turnips, or, to use a county phrase, " the land will plough up in 

 good heart." It is not very customary to apply manure as a top 

 dressing on the young seeds, although it might be attended with 

 considerable advantage ; the principal reason for not doing so 

 arises from the fact that clover seeds invariably follow the white 

 grain crop immediately succeeding the fallow ; the land, therefore, 

 is considered in condition to support the plant. On some land 

 in high condition, where the barley crop is frequently bulky, 

 causing the seeds to be thin and weak, it might be more politic 

 to bestow rather less manure on the barley crop, and apply some 

 portion as a top-dressing to the young seeds, for it is found that 

 a thin crop of clover is generally the precursor to a light crop of 

 wheat. 



Sheep-folding on bare land is still practised to some extent ; 

 the fold being fresh set every night, or else made larger, and the 

 sheep put in two nights in succession. It is not done on the best 

 kind of land capable of feeding sheep, it being considered that the 



