42 
Relative Value of the different Manures. 
hide would be attached six large, powerful cart 
horses, fat as they could walk, and coats as sleek 
as moles, gaily caparisoned with tassels, top 
knots and bells, their driver in smart plaited 
blue frock and breeches, and long pipe stuck 
into his hat riband by way of ornament, crack¬ 
ing his whip and walking by the side of his 
team, proud as a turkey cock, and dealing out 
his orders with as much pomposity and gusto! 
as a militia captain on muster day. Then come 
droves of pigs, flocks of sheep, cattle, horses, 
and asses, all bound for their respective stations 
in the stock and grain markets. Now com¬ 
mences “ high change ,,” points, breeding, quali¬ 
ties, prices, payments, and all such mighty mat¬ 
ters are discussed, and by 2 o’clock, P. M., af- 
iairs are pretty well closed. 
All then assemble at the diflerent Inns, the 
more gentlemanly class dining together at a 
general table. All seated, the chairman takes 
up a huge carving knife, gives a loud rap on 
the festive board with the handle as a call to si¬ 
lence, and then with becoming unction, mutters 
a short grace and all fall to. The dishes are 
plain and substantial, and amount to three or four 
kinds well-cooked fish and meats, and then fol¬ 
low plumb pudding and pastry. Wine and 
spirits are not much drank, as they are very 
dear in England, but foaming tankards of double 
distilled strong ale usurp their place in foaming 
procession. After the cloth is removed, pipes 
with stems of about a ‘cloth-yard’ length succeed, 
and then follow wordy discussions on the day’s 
transactions, crops, stock, rents, tillage, &c. &c. 
Column after column of light blue smoke 
now rises up from each, filling the room with a 
denseness, quite equal to a genuine English fog. 
Gradually the eyes of the pertinacious puffers 
begin to assume a fishy aspect, their cheeks 
changing with alternate blue and red, seem at 
last to be bursting with tobacco smoke, florid 
health, and foaming beer. The busy landlady 
and her maids are sailing about in every direc¬ 
tion, waiting upon customers and serving round 
the potations, while the landlord more quietly 
sits at his ease, holding sage talk with all com¬ 
ers and goers. In the tap room the scene is 
enacted over again in a more humble way, for 
there sit on long benches, with naked tables be¬ 
fore them, small farmers or sturdy peasants, 
some discussing a dinner of simple bread and 
cheese, others adding a little cold bacon or lamb 
to it, while others again are sucking lustily at 
the beer pots, alternating their “ heavy wet,” 
with “light dry” drafts upon the long tobacco 
pipes. Though never participating in stimu¬ 
lants or opiates of any kind, yet there is a down¬ 
right comfortable apparent satisfaction in these 
things, that when occasionally led to look back 
at them, our sympathies are seized fast hold of, 
'and we cannot but half envy, for the moment, 
the animal enjoyment of the stupifying indul¬ 
gences. a. 
Relative Value of the different Manures. 
To show the extreme care with which Eu¬ 
ropeans husband their manures, we subjoin a 
.list of some articles systematically collected for 
! this purpose, and their relative fertilising pro- 
'perties. We cannot too earnestly inculcate up- 
jon our readers the necessity of the strictest at¬ 
tention to this important subject. Manures are 
jthe foundation of the farmer’s prosperity. He 
can do nothing without—he can do everything 
| with them. Their importance has been hitherto 
|undervalued by a large portion of our country¬ 
men, in consequence of their occupying new 
.lands, which, being charged with the undis¬ 
turbed remains of vegetable matter accumulated 
through centuries, need little assistance from 
[art to sustain successive crops, sufficiently large 
jto satisfy the occupant. But we have two re¬ 
marks to apply to persons cultivating such 
lands : there is comparatively little land, except 
the richest of the alluvial bottoms, that cannot 
be made to increase its crops by manure ; and 
a series of crops will soon exhaust even the 
best, unless it is subject to a periodical renewal 
of its fertility, by accessions from alluvial depos- 
ites furnished by the overflowing of streams. 
A strong example of this is shown in the 
Virginia lands, which at one time were as rich 
as any on this Continent, but by severe cropping 
for a long time, many of them have become so 
much impoverished, as to be comparatively 
worthless, and in many cases have been abso¬ 
lutely abandoned. In this condition they will 
probably remain till exhausted Nature is allow¬ 
ed to recruit herself by the decomposition of 
such fertilising mineral resources as abound in 
most soils; and the accumulation of fresh vege¬ 
table matter has restored her former energies. 
But in the interim, the land is abandoned and 
worthless, and the capital invested in it, totally 
unproductive. This disastrous result may not 
only be avoided by a careful application of ma¬ 
nures produced on the farm when properly 
stocked, but the original fertility of the soil be 
gradually augmented. That we do not mistake 
this case, it is sufficient to quote recent Euro¬ 
pean experiments in confirmation of our opin¬ 
ion, which show that the urate produced from a 
single adult in one year, affords nitrogen suffi¬ 
cient to produce 800 lbs of wheat, or over 13 
bushels ! And this with all the excrementitious 
matter abounding on every farmer’s premises, 
if carefully collected and retained to be applied 
to the proper crops, and at the proper season, 
would rapidly increase its productive powers, 
even while undergoing a severe cropping.-— 
