340 
The Application of the Manure of the Farm. 
tion, lor we can thus reduce the dung (if so required) even to a 
soapy condition, in which it can be dug by a spade, and not in 
the least degree capable of rendering the soil more porous and 
open. The following rule (which practically corresponds with 
the former) may be given to indicate the manner in which we 
should regulate the mechanical condition of the dung according 
to the requirements of the land : — That in the same degree as the 
proportion of clay in the soil is found to increase, so may the 
dung be most advantageously applied to the land in a less fer- 
mented state ; and, conversely, as the land becomes more sandy, so 
the dung should be applied in a more rotten condition. 
Artificial Grasses. — These are exceedingly valuable to the 
cultivator of sandy land, and the application of dung is here 
found very desirable. There are two periods in their growth 
when the manure is applied, varying according to the custom of 
the larm. When the employment of farmyard-manure for the 
root-crop is found to be attended by a loss of its fertilising con- 
stituents, it is desirable to apply it to the artificial grasses. 
This is attended with many advantages, which are worthy of 
more general acceptance. In the use of dung for young seeds, 
it should be applied after it has been been carefully rotted in the 
heap, and it should be spread on the land either in the autumn 
or following spring. Early in the autumn is certainly the best 
time, because then the plant has the opportunity of making a 
good growth and establishing itself in the ground by a firm root 
before the winter stops its progress. It has thus prepared itself 
for a vigorous growth in the succeeding season, and this is much 
more important than is generally supposed. 
The use of dung for seeds upon sandy land has peculiar advan- 
tages, because we thereby enlist the powers of vegetation to com- 
pensate in some degree for the absence of power in the soil to 
retain manure. In adding dung to the land for a root-crop, a 
long time necessarily elapses before the crop attains to a state in 
which growth is rapid, or in which it can quickly make use of 
the manure. All this time the manure is suffering waste in the 
soil. When dung is applied to the young seeds, we have a crop 
ready to take advantage of it, and possessing powers of rapid 
growth by which the materials of the manure are, to a great 
extent, taken up at once by the crop, which consequently makes 
an unusually rapid growth. This growth above-ground is 
accompanied by an equally rapid development of the root 
beneath the surface, which becomes a source of power for pro- 
moting the growth of the following season, and also serves to 
keep the manure from passing into the porous soil beneath. 
These are advantages of no ordinary character, which are thus 
placed within the reach of the cultivator of sandy land. 
Many persons are accustomed to feed their young seeds before 
