117 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
operate very differently: “the former, being more stimulant andj 
corrective, help the farmer to an abundant crop at the expense of 
the soil alone; while the latter furnish the land at once with ferti¬ 
lizing fluids, and will insure a good crop on a place perfectly barren 
before, and after the application of lime.” 
Much uncertainty prevails among farmers regarding the state of 
lime; some contending that it should only be applied when hot and 
powdered, and that when it has been slaked, its effect is compara¬ 
tively trifling; others maintain the contrary. But these disputants 
consist chiefly of men whose experience has either been confined to 
one kind of soil, or who have only used it under particular circum¬ 
stances, and as they only condemn the system of others because 
their own has turned out successful, or the reverse, it is not impro¬ 
bable that, in the view they take of the subject, each may be in the 
riglit. It will therefore probably be found, that in all cases where 
the land is constitutionally disposed to receive benefit from a calca¬ 
reous dressing, that is to say, when it has not been previously limed, 
on when it has been long laid down and refreshed by grass, or en¬ 
riched by the application of dung, it is of little importance whether 
the operation take place when the lime is quick or effete. Upon 
waste lands, however, its causticity has an evident and necessary 
effect; for the undecayed vegetables, which abound in all soils in a 
state of nature, should be speedily decomposed, and it should there¬ 
fore be spread hot from the kiln. In point of economy, too, there 
can be no doubt but that it is most thriftily used when laid upon the 
land in the latter state : for the labor is less; and a smaller quanti¬ 
ty will serve the immediate purpose. It is, however, obvious that 
the choice of circumstances and season is not always in the farmer’s 
power; and that necessity often obliges him to lay it on when com¬ 
pletely effete. It has been said, indeed, upon high authority, that 
caustic lime exhausts the land ; but repeated trials have shown that 
its ultimate effects are equally beneficial in the one state or the oth¬ 
er, though there is a more immediate advantage in the employment 
of quick-lime by the destruction of weeds. A common method is 
to leave it spread during some months upon clover or sainfoin, not 
intended to be broken up until the following year,—a plan which is 
advisable with regard to marl, which partakes of some of the quali¬ 
ties of lime, and is the better if allowed to remain during a season 
exposed to the atmosphere; but the stimulating properties of quick¬ 
lime will be thereby lost; as it will be converted into mere chalk.— 
Opinion are also much divided respecting its effects when laid upon 
pasture land which is intended to be kept in grass. There is indeed 
no question that, in either state, if applied in moderate quantities to 
a dry soil, or to land that lias been completely drained, such a top¬ 
dressing will have the most beneficial effect upon the herbage; but 
it must be admitted, that when laid on quick, it requires more cir¬ 
cumspection in its application, and should not be employed in the 
same quantity as when effete .—British Husbandry. 
MISCELLANEOUS MANURES. 
Peat moss, which is universally considered as an inert mass of 
half-corrupted vegetable matter, has been long applied to land in dif¬ 
ferent ways, and, when burned, has been already treated of in the 
Chapter on Ashes. When reduced to that state, it is of course ren¬ 
dered light by combustion, and consequently so portable as to be ea¬ 
sily conveyed to any part of the kingdom; but it is only in the im¬ 
mediate neighborhood of bogs that it can be used in its natural state, 
for, even when dried by exposure to the air, its bulk is too great to 
admit of its being carried to any great distance, unless at such ex¬ 
pense as would render its application as manure unprofitable. 
It has been extensively used in its natural state in both Scotland 
and Ireland, in various parts of which there are large bogs, as well 
as in some parts of this country ; it is, however, very sluggish in be¬ 
coming reduced, and requires two or three years, with repeated turn¬ 
ings and exposure to the atmosphere, to bring it to anything like the 
condition of vegetable mould ; but being of a cold nature, it is found, 
by a heavy dressing, to cause considerable improvement in hot, gra¬ 
velly and sandy soils. When brought to the decayed condition of 
bog-mould, or rich earth, it has also been found highly useful in open¬ 
ing stiff clay land, and has been largely used for that purpose in Ire¬ 
land ; but on mellow friable soils, it is stated to possess too little 
substance to be of much utility, and it is said it inclines grass-land 
to the production of moss. It is likewise impregnated with noxious 
roots and seeds of aquatic grasses, which, when laid on in its raw 
state, fill the land with those nuisances; and some farmers who have 
thus applied it, have occasioned such injury to their grass-land, that 
it has not recovered for several years; though a small quantity of 
quick-liine sprinkled sparingly over the surface, after the peat is 
spread, has been known to correct its bad effects. 
During many years it has been the practice of farmers residing in 
the vicinity of fens, to bed their cattle upon dried peat, as they find 
that the dung and urine occasion it to ferment and become decom¬ 
posed. This is so common in Ireland, that every peasant who has a 
few acres of ground, bottoms his dung-stead wilh stuff drawn from 
the bogs, that he may thus preserve the seep or goading, as he 
terms it, of his stable manure. They also mix the peat with dung 
in various proportions—sometimes one-third of the latter, at other 
times one-half; and in the latter case have in most instances found 
that the mixture has produced an equal crop with a similar quantity 
of stable dung. In countries where peat-moss cannot be readily ob¬ 
tained, a proportion of tnoory soil may be substituted; but it is not 
advisable that either of these should form the principal part of the 
compost heap, for neither of them contains fertilizing properties of 
sufficient power to act in any other way than as alteratives, until ef¬ 
fectually decomposed by being judiciously blended with stimulating 
substances. The difficulty of effecting this decomposition led to 
frequent disappointment in the application of the manure, and con¬ 
sequently to much difference of opinion regarding its value, until the 
late Lord Meadowbank happily overcame the objections to its use, 
by a scientific investigation of its properties, and directions for its 
preparation in composts with dung, of which the following is a sum¬ 
mary : 
COMPOSTS. 
The peat of which the compost is to be partly formed, should be 
thrown out of the pit some weeks, or even months, pr..v, nisly, ; 
in order to deprive it of its redundant moisture. By this means it is 
rendered the lighter and less compact when made up with fresh dung 
for fermentation ; and accordingly, less dung is required for the pur¬ 
pose than if the preparation be made with peat recently dug from 
the pit. It should be taken to a dry spot, convenient to the field which 
is to be manured, and placed in a row of the length intended for the 
midden. When ready to be made up into compost, half the quanti¬ 
ty of dung must be carted out, and laid in a parallel row at such a 
distance as will allow the workmen to throw the rows together by 
the spade: the compost may thus be laid in the centre, and will 
form the area of the future heap, which is to be thus formed. 
Let the workmen make a layer or bottom of peat about six inches 
deep, and extending further than the base of the proposed midden, 
which is to be thrown up in alternate layers,—first, ten inches of 
dung over the peat, then peat six inches, dung four inches—thus di¬ 
minishing each layer of dung until the heap rises to a height not 
exceeding between three and four feet, when the whole should be 
covered—top, ends and sides—with the remains of the peat; the 
whole to be put loosely together, and made quite smooth. 
In mild weather, seven cart-loads of common farm-yard dung, to¬ 
lerably fresh made, is sufficient for twenty-one cart-loads of peat¬ 
moss; but in cold weather, a larger proportion of dung is desirable. 
The dung to be used should either have been recently made, or kept 
fresh by the compression of cattle or carts passing over it; and as 
some sorts of dung, even when fresh, are much more advanced in 
decomposition than others, it is necessary to attend to this, for a 
much less proportion of dung that is less advanced will serve the 
purpose. 
After the compost is made up, it gets into a general heat, sooner 
or later, according to the weather and the condition of the dung; in 
summer, in ten days or sooner; in winter, not perhaps for so many 
weeks, if the cold is severe. It, always, however, has been found to 
come on at last; and in summer, it sometimes rises so high as to be 
mischievous by becoming fire-fanged. Sticks should therefore be kept 
thrust into different parts, as by drawing them out occasionally the 
progress of the fermentation may be ascertained ; and if so rapid as 
to approach to blood heat, it should either be watered or turned over, 
and a little moss be added. The heat subsides after a time, and 
with variety proportioned to the season and the perfection of the 
compost; but, when cooled, it may be allowed to remain untouched 
till within about three weeks of being wanted; it should be then 
turned over, upside down, and outside in, and all the lumps broken ; 
after which, it comes into a second heat, but soon cools, and may be 
taken out for use. In this state the whole appears a black mass, 
like garden mould, and, it is said, may be used, weight for weight, 
like farm-yard manure, with which it will fully stand a comparison 
