The Application of the Manure of the Farm. 341 
winter, but this is decidedly objectionable. It is argued that if 
not thus eaten, much of the herbage will perish uselessly, and 
therefore it may as well be eaten as not. Such an argument is 
fallacious ; for if you could only consume that which would 
otherwise fall, you would still be but a small gainer. You 
would gain a certain quantity of food, but you lose a certain 
amount of fertility from the land, for the manure does not fully 
compensate the land for what is consumed, and here the profit 
would end. The loss, however, is very much greater in con- 
suming the clovers (and especially if it is done by sheep, and 
this is the usual stock), for much more is fed off than would have 
fallen. The growing centres of the plant are damaged, the 
growth of the crop is held in check, and as a necessary con- 
sequence the extension of the root is eqnalhj influenced. As a 
result of this practice we often find the land, which ought to 
have had a good crop and a regular plant, has failed in places, 
and not realised the expectations formed from the appearance in 
the autumn. The healthy and luxuriant growth resulting from 
the early application of well-rotted dung, may strongly tempt 
the farmer to stock his seeds in the autumn ; but if he yields to 
this temptation, the promise of the future will be sacrificed for a 
very inadequate immediate advantage.* 
The second mode of applying dung to artificial grasses is at a 
later period of their growth, viz., during the summer preceding 
their being broken up for corn. But, as in this case the benefit 
of the corn-crop is the primary object in view, a consideration of 
this practice belongs rather to the next division of our subject. 
Corn-Crops. — The porosity of much of our light land renders 
it advisable that the crop which is generally looked upon as the 
chief source of profit should have a preferential claim upon the 
manure. Consequently, we see it customary on some farms to 
apply dung for the corn-crop before ploughing the land for 
wheat. Taking the best example of farming, we find that when 
the land is sandy it is considered desirable to apply the dung 
some time before the ground is ploughed. If the manure were 
simply buried in the land, the slow growth of wheat would not 
enable it to take full advantage of its fertilising properties ere it 
would be washed beyond its reach. The case is exactly the 
same as that of the root-crop already named, and the necessity 
for an intervening agency is equally great. This our improved 
practice has supplied ; and hence it is found desirable to spread 
the manure intended for the wheat, in a well-rotten condition, 
* This principle of action, which is sound as a general rule, will hardly be 
violated if the flockmaster runs his hoggets over the layers on sandy soils, with a 
view to consolidating the surface, so long as they only pick the top of the feed, and 
that before frost sets in. — P. H. F. 
