AGRICULTURE. 
prove the constant source of improvement. 
With a view to turn his means of manure 
most advantageously to account, he should 
draw into his farm-yard, at the most leisurely 
season of the year, before the time of con- 
fining his cattle to fodder, as much marl, 
turf, dry mud, loam, and other applicable ar- 
ticles, as will cover its surface to the depth of 
twelve inches. If there be many liog-houses, 
stables, and cow-stalls, that are cleansed into 
the yard, on such spots these materials 
should be spread more thickly. Bog peats, 
if near at hand, should be never neglected. 
These peats may be regarded as vegetable 
dunghills, and their easy accessibility in this 
connexion will be regarded as of extreme 
utility and consequence. Before foddering 
is begun, the whole yard should be well lit- 
tered, for which stubble, fern, and leaves, 
are well adapted. No money laid out by 
the farmer is more wisely and successfully 
expended than that which he employs in 
procuring, at a reasonable rate, great quan- 
tities of litter, by which his cattle are 
enabled to lie dry and warm, and the mass 
of manure which he raises is much larger 
and cheaper than he could procure in any 
other mode. Fern abounds in alkaline 
salts, and must therefore obviously produce 
very valuable dung : it requires, however, to 
be rotted well, and is more difficult to be so 
than straw. In woodlands leaves may be 
collected at slight expense, and will make 
admirable litter and dung. In the neigh- 
bourhood of marshes, rushes, flags, and 
coarse grass may all be easily procured, and 
will be exceedingly serviceable. After 
these exertions and preparations, the farmer 
must strictly confine his cattle during the 
winter, not by tying them, as some have 
done, but so as completely to prevent their 
roaming in the adjoining pastures. By thus 
Confining all the cattle upon straw, and 
turnips, and hay, as may be requisite, the 
necessary quantity of animal manure will be 
obtained to make the compost of the several 
ingredients ferment, rot, and turn to rich 
manure, while without these animal mate- 
rials the heap might be large, but would be 
of little value. The draining from the yard 
should never run towaste, and unless in extra- 
ordinary cases, such as extremely violent 
rains, this may be easily prevented. An 
excellent method for this purpose is the 
sinking a well in the lower part of the yard 
to fix a pump in ; by which the water may 
be conveyed along a trough to a large heap 
of marl, turf, chalk, and other appropriate 
materials, which, by the daily application 
of this liquor will be of little less value 
eventually than a heap of dung of the same 
size. 
If the dung remains under water, putre- 
faction is stopped ; this therefore should be 
carefully guarded against. Stirring the dung 
should also be avoided, as the oils and alka- 
line salts are thus carried olf into the atmos- 
phere, and it is not merely rottenness that 
is wanted, and particularly that dry rotten- 
ness thus produced, but such as exhibits a 
fat, oily, mucelaginous appearance. It will 
be advisable, if practicable, to let it remain 
in the yard unmoved till the ground it is 
destined for is completely ready for its re- 
ception. If, for want of room in the yard, 
it must be carted olf into the field, let the 
litter and the marl be well mixed in filling 
the cart, and let the whole form, under the 
shade of trees, if an opportunity be afforded 
for it, aheap about four feet in thickness. 
The dung raised even by a few sheep in a 
standing fold, under a shed constructed ex- 
pressly for the purpose, (for the trouble and 
expence of one composed of hurdles will 
overbalance its profits, unless upon a very 
large scale) is a considerable object, while 
the sheep under it are at the same time 
warm and comfortable, instead of being ex- 
posed to driving rains and snow. 
Animal substances are very far preferable 
as manures to fossil or vegetable ones. Wool- 
len rags, hog’s hair, horn shavings, the offal of 
butcher’s and fishmonger’s stalls may be ob- 
tained in large cities, and whenever reason- 
ably to be procured, should be eagerly caught 
at. With regard to the dung of animals, 
that of sheep is unquestionably the best. 
That of horses fed upon corn and hay is 
justly preferred to that of fatting cattle, 
which, however, is greatly superior to that 
of lean cattle, and particularly of cows, 
though they may feed upon turnips. 
The practice of paring and burning is 
pronounced by men of great philosophical 
sagacity and research, and who have justly 
deferred more to practical results than to 
theoretical reasonings, to be of the most de- 
cided advantage in the preparation of land. 
It may be considered as a practice safe on 
any soil, as in some it is essentially neces- 
sary. That which most of all requires it, 
and which it is impossible by any other 
means to pulverize, is what consists of moss, 
rushes, and all kinds of coarse grass. It 
should be exercised on moor and heath- 
field, on account of the roots of the grass 
remaining in it, which are very stubborn and 
durable, and which check the growth of 
