9 10 
bemg left by the tides, and to plough it in : 
vdiere this method is adopted, as little time 
at possible should be suffered to elapse after 
toe cutting or collecting of the weed, before 
it is ploughed down ; for as the plant in its 
green or succulent state readily decays and 
ecomes putrid, ii there be any considerable 
- delay in the performance of the business, es- 
pecially when the weather is hot, much of its 
valuable properties as a manure is dissipated- 
and carried away by means of evaporation. 
Bark, which has been made use of for the 
purpose of tanning leather, may likewise be 
employed as a manure: when used in this 
way it should be collected into moderate 
sized heaps, before it has become dry by too 
much exposure to the heat of the sun and 
wind ; and then by having a quantity of lime 
mingled with it, and being kept slightly 
moistened with water, its putrefaction and 
decay may be greatly promoted. 
I he mud taken from the bottom of rivers, 
ponds, and other places where water has stag- 
nated for some length of time, fresh or maiden 
earth, and the scouring? of old ditches, are 
substances that may frequently be employed 
with advantage as manures, being principally- 
composed of tiie recrements of decayed ve- 
getable matters. 1 hey should not, however, 
be put upon grounds, especially those under 
grass, until they- have been reduced into a 
considerable degree of fineness, by means of 
frequent turning over, and the mixing of a 
portion ot lime, rotten dung, or othar mate- 
rials of the same kind, with them, in order to 
promote and render the decay of the more 
solid parts more full and complete. 
Substances of the calcareous kind, which 
are to be considered under this head, pro- 
duce effects more or less powerful in promot- 
es the growth of vegetable crops, in some 
measure, according to the state and quantity 
in which they are applied, the nature of the 
soils on which they are employed, and the 
properties of the matters with which they are 
combined. 
. Substances that contain much saline matter 
in combination with their earthy and other 
ingredients, are found, in many instances, 
when properly employed as manures, to con- 
tribute greatly to the support of vegetation, 
ft he materials principally made use of in this 
way are the refuse of different manufactures, 
such as bleaching and soap-boiling, where 
they can be procured in sufficient quantities, 
as in the vicinity of large towns, and where 
such manufactures are carried on in an ex- 
tensive manner; the ashes remaining after the 
combustion or burning of various green ve- 
getable matters, wood, pit-coal, peat, &c. and 
some other substances, such as soot and sea- 
salt. 
It is most probably to the different alkaline 
principles contained m these substances, from 
the great facility and power which they pos- 
sess of acting upon and dissolving the parts 
of animal and vegetable matters, especially 
such of the latter kind as have been rendered 
insoluble by the absorption of the oxygen, or 
pure air of the atmosphere, from long or fre- 
quent exposure to it, that their beneficial ef- 
fects as manures are chiefly to be ascribed. 
But these substances, besides their forming 
in the soils, or the earthy materials with which 
they are mixed, such compounds as are be- 
neficial in promoting the growth of vegeta- 
bles may be useful in many cases when pro- 
HUSBANDRY. 
perly applied, and used in sufficient quantity, 
in correcting acidity, in altering the state or 
condition ot the lands, as by the taking away 
ot moisture from the surlace where it prevails 
in an over-proportion in meadows and pas- 
tuie^, asd thereby supports crops of coarse 
vegetables, and by rendering the texture of 
such grounds as are under the plough more 
open and triable, consequently more suitable 
toi the reception ot the roots of corn crops. 
1 It is evident, from what has been already 
observed on the nature of the different sub- 
stances that are capable of being made use of 
as manures, that they may frequently be 
mixed and blended with each other, or with 
substances of other kinds, and by such means 
be not only considerably increased in quan- 
tity, but in many cases rendered more effec- 
tual and more suitable for application than' in 
iiien simple states; but at the same time, that 
some ot them may be mixed and incorporated 
in this way with much more advantage than 
others; for though the general experience of 
farmers has fully shewn the great importance 
and utility of employing compound manures, 
or composts, little attention has till lately 
been paid to the compounding or mixing to- 
gcthei oi such substances as are, from the 
principles which they originally contain, or 
which are formed from them iii the -changes 
which they undergo in the different stages of 
their decomposition, adapted to act in the 
most suitable manner for producing such 
combinations or alterations in the materials 
as are capable of being beneficial in the pro- 
motion of vegetation when they are employ- 
ed as manures. ' 1 J 
Farm-yard manure, which is the most ge- 
neral application of any, from its being form- 
ed by the decay of various kinds of vegetable 
m at tei s, such as hay, straw, fern, and many 
other materials of a similar nature, with 
which the dung and urine of animals is incor- 
porated and combined, must be considered 
as a compound substance. And from the 
large proportion in which such vegetable 
productions enter into its composition, and 
the quantity ot earthy materials that is in 
most cases, especially where the management 
is upon a judicious plan, added by the laying 
of suitable bottoms, it is not so frequently ne- 
cessary to be blended with other substances 
that are usually employed in forming com- 
posts. But from most of the vegetable ma- 
terials that constitute the chief part of this 
sort of manure, being made use of in a dry 
and hard slate, they do not so quickly fer- 
ment or run into the state of decay, notwith- 
standing the proportion of animalized matters 
that may be mixed with them; it therefore 
becomes an useful practice to turn them aver, 
by which their complete putrefaction may 
not only be promoted, but the different ma- 
terials be more minutely blended together, on 
both which accounts they may become more 
useful when applied as manure upon land. 
In the forming of this manure, care should 
also be constantly taken that the heaps be so 
situated as that they may not become too dry, 
or too much soaked in water, as in either case 
they must be greatly injured. Whenever it 
may be requisite to incorporate any earthy 
material with this sort of manure, the agri- 
cultor should always carefully attend to the 
state or richness in which it may exist in the 
yaul, and proportion such additions accord- 
ingly- It will, however, never demand nearly 
so large a proportion, as such manures as 
consist almost wholly of animal matters. 
Where animal matters are collected and 
thrown together in any quantity, there can 
be little doubt but that a great increase of 
good manure may be provided by mixing 
with. them, as has been already observed, rich 
sui face-mould, peat-earth, or the scrapings of 
old ditches and roads j as by such a practice 
the ammonia formed during the decomposi- 
tion of tlie animal substances is prevented 
from escaping, as would otherwise be the 
case, which, by combining with and acting 
upon the eailliy materials, quickly renders 
them proper for the purposes of manure. As 
substances ot the animal kind have been 
shewn to run very rapidly into the state of 
puli ef act ion, they may frequently be incor- 
porated with such vegetable materials as are 
little disposed, or with difficulty made, to rot 
or become putrid, and by such' means usdul 
composts be more expeditiously formed, in 
making use of such earthy substances as have 
been mentioned, it may be of much advan- 
tage to have them exposed to the influence of 
the atmosphere for a considerable length of 
time, frequently turning them over., before 
they are mixed with the manures, as by such 
means they become in a more pulverized 
state, and are capable of being more inti- 
mately blended with such materials, and after- 
wards spread over the land with much greater 
equality, a circumstance upon whicli their 
effects very much depend. If, in performing 
tins business, the earthy substances be formed 
into a sort of ridge, about live or six feet in 
height, and nearly the same breadth in the 
bottom, they will be in the most proper situ- 
ation for being united with dung, or other 
matters that may be employed. 
In the application of manure to land, se- 
veral circumstances are necessary to be con- 
sidered, such as the state or condition of the 
substances which are to be made use ofj the 
nature of the soils on which they are to be 
laid, the kind of crop that is to be' promoted 
by them, and the season in which they are 
put into or upon the ground. 
As we have already seen that changes are 
continually taking place from the moment 
the materials of the dung-heap are thrown 
together, to the period in which they are re- 
duced into a black carbonic earth v matter • 
and that in most of the different stag.es- 
through which they pass in this process of de- 
composition, such substances are formed as 
are capable of contributing to the nutrition 
and support of vegetable crops; it seems pro- 
bable, that in cases where manures are to be 
turned into the ground, and such crops culti- 
vated as require a supply of nourishment for 
a considerable length of time, they should be 
employed in their long or more imperfectly 
reduced states, as by the heat which is evolv- 
ed in the commencement of their dissolution 
the process of early vegetation may be greatly 
promoted, and their gradual decomposition 
and decay afterwards, under the ground 
afford a more durable and regular supply of 
nutrient materials, and thereby contribute 
more effectually to the growth of the crops • 
but that where they are to be buried in, orap- 
plied to, tiie surface of the soil, and intended 
merely for the benefit and support of such 
crops as are of short duration, or quickly ar- 
rive at their full growth, they may he more 
advantageously made use of after they have 
