The Best Means of applying Liquid Manure. 23 
ration proceeds, until the whole four or five acres are manured. . 
Though this seems a simple and expeditious operation, yet in 
practice there is a vast deal of labour in unscrewing and dragging 
the hose over the ground, and also a great waste by unequal dis- 
tribution of the manure : the wear and tear of the hose, caused 
by pulling it over the land, is also a large item in the annual 
expenses of this system ; and the time lost in moving it is about 
equal to the time employed in applying the liquid. This is a 
serious waste of means where steam or animal power is used 
for forcing the liquid through the pipes, but where gravitation 
gives the pressure it is of less moment. During the dry season 
of the year, however, when this operation is chiefly carried on, 
it is of immense consequence that it should be proceeded with 
without stoppage, doing as much as possible in the latter part 
of the day, when evaporation ceases, so that before morning 
the earth will have drunk it up, leaving but little to be wasted 
next day. I was forcibly struck with the loss arising from this 
cause when inspecting Myremill farm, near Ayr, in the summer 
of ] 854. At that time Mr. Kennedy was applying liquid-manure 
to freshly-planted cabbages, at the rate of 12,000 gallons per 
acre, equal to about half an inch in depth over the whole surface 
of the land, the land being in a very dry state, and the weather 
very droughty. In a few hours almost the whole was dried up, 
and the advantage of the large supply of water nearly lost ; 
whereas, where the manure was applied in the evening, the loss 
from evaporation was but small. 
Inexperienced men may imag'ne that it is both simple and 
easy to drag the hose over the land, but it should be remembered 
that every 16 yards in length of 2T-inch hose, and every 12 yards 
of 3-inch hose, full of liquid-manure, weighs a cwt. Notwith- 
standing these difficulties, however, the system is spreading, 
especially in the north. I have visited several of these farms 
from time to time for the last five years, and am quite satisfied 
that for green crops, especially Italian ryegrass and cabbages, 
it is profitable ; the feeding power of these crops so produced 
being of the highest standard, and the amount of produce scarcely 
believable. 
The land is always perfectly clean after growing Italian ryegrass 
for two years, during which time it will have been cut ten or 
twelve times, and after each cutting will have received from three 
to twenty thousand gallons of liquid-manure per acre ; the quan- 
tity of water mixed with the manure being ruled by the dry- 
ness of the weather and soil. If the land be already saturated 
with water, 5000 gallons of undiluted liquid-manure should be 
applied ; but if it be parched, and there be no chance of rain, 
then water should be added to make up 23,000 gallons per acre, 
equal to a depth of one inch, or ten hours' rain, which will be of 
