Farming of Devonshire. 
467 
used in its liquid state. When it is collected in a tank it should 
be pumped on the manure heaps instead of being distributed by 
an ordinary cart. It too frequently happens that no means are 
adopted for its preservation, and it is permitted to drain away as 
if it were quite worthless and unworthy of our care. The re- 
medy for this evil is practicable in the majority of cases, and the 
difficulty does not so much exist in its application to the circum- 
stances of the several instances as in convincing the farmer of the 
loss he really suffers by so much waste. By chemical analysis 
this liquid is found to contain the richest portions of our manure 
(the alkaline salts and the phosphates), and that which is chiefly 
required by the growing plant. The demands which plants 
make on the soil (and which we employ manure to supply) are 
principally the mineral ingredients found with such constancy in 
their ashes, and these can only be taken up when dissolved in 
water. It will therefore be evident to all that, by allowing this 
liquid to waste, we are losing that portion of our manure which is 
most adapted for the support of vegetable life. It is with diffi- 
culty that the fertility of land can be maintained which is con- 
stantly impoverished by the corn and stock removed to market, 
and hence the greater need to supply, by means of t<;e//- prepared 
manure, the demands thus year by year made on the soil. But 
whilst I strenuously maintain that the mineral matter of plants 
perforins most important functions in their economy, I consider 
that an abundant supply of their organic constituents is equally 
essential for obtaining a vigorous and healthy development of their 
organs. I shall therefore describe the mode of regulating the 
fermentation of this manure and the best state in which it can be 
applied. The character of the land determines the mode of pro- 
cedure. For a clay soil I should compress it as much as pos- 
sible, and preserve it in large heaps. In forming the heap the 
cart should be drawn over it and unloaded when on the top, 
where the dung is to be spread by a labourer. The ends are 
afterwards cut back, and the heap being thus brought into a 
proper form is well covered with the cleanings of ditches, good 
mould or burnt clay. These bodies from their absorbent cha- 
racter retain much of the ammonia given off from the heap which 
would otherwise be lost. The manure should remain in this 
state until it is required to be spread, and it must then be 
ploughed into the land with as little delay as possible. I thus 
apply my manure before it has fermented to any extent, in order 
that the heat given off during its decay may be absorbed in the 
soil, thus lessening in a great degree that check to vegetation 
which is occasioned by the coldness of clay lands. 
In preparing manure for a sandy or loamy soil my method 
would differ in some respects. The lighter and more porous the 
