PIUSBANDR Y. 557 
are decompofed, and in a fituation to nourifti new plants. 
The more completely therefore thefe fubftances are fub- 
mitted to the procefs of fermentation, the more beneficial 
will be their effefts upon the foil. Hence it is an objedt 
of the firft importance to farmers to have their dunghills 
fo fituated and conftrufted as to promote their fermenta¬ 
tion, and retain all the ufeful parts of them. Thefe cir- 
cu'mftances have been very little attended to ; the greater 
part of dunghills being either placed in hollows, and 
furrounded with water, which effe&ually prevents fer¬ 
mentation by chilling them ; or upon declivities, where 
every drop of moillure runs away ; cattle are allowed to 
Ip read it by trampling, weeds to exhauft it, and carts and 
waggons are driven over it. Thus the middle, from be¬ 
ing hard and prefled, will be imperfeftly fermented ; and 
the fkies, from being fcattered about and dried, will not 
be fermented at all, but in a condition little better than 
dry ftraw. 
To promote fermentation in dung, air and moillure are 
neceflary. It is well known to gardeners, that, in mak¬ 
ing hot-beds, by laying the dung lightly in heaps, and 
watering it gently, fermentation is immediately brought 
on; and that hot-bed dung is as completely fermented in 
a fortnight as that in a farm-yard generally is in fix or 
eight months. The farmer fhould imitate this practice 
as nearly as the nature of his fituation will admit; and, 
inftead of having his dunghill in the yard, and allowing 
carts, cattle. See. to difturb if, lie fliould place it in fome 
diftinft fituation, convenient for his offices, where the 
urine may be kept with it, or elfe run into a receptacle, 
whence it may be thrown back into the dung to enrich 
it and promote the fermentation, or be carried off in carts 
to manure his land. 
When dung is carried to the dunghill, it fliould not be 
driven over the heap as is commonly praitifed, becaufe 
the feet of the horfes and the weight of the carriage will 
prefs it fo hard as to exclude the air, and thereby prevent 
the fermentation ; when the quantity alfo is conliderable, 
the horfes are drained, and the harnefs damaged, by the 
exertions neceflary to drag a loaded carriage over a hill 
of fuch loofe materials. Every load therefore ought to 
be laid down by the fide of the dunghill, at leaft after 
the work has made fuch progrefs as to render palling 
over it a matter of difficulty, and afterwards thrown up 
lightly with a fork; the labour of which is trifling in 
companion with the advantage refulting from it. If dung 
laid up in this manner contains a fufficient proportion of 
moHture, it will immediately begin to.ferment; if there¬ 
fore it is too dry, it fliould be watered, and in fummer 
this will frequently be found neceflary ; it will thus be 
completely fermented in fix or fieven weeks, and will be 
more valuable by half than that which is made in the 
common flovenly manner. The fituation belt calculated 
for a dunghill is that which is nearelt to a levfel, .with a 
bottom capable of retaining moillure, and covered with a 
filed. If the whole be inclofed with a wall, except an 
open fpace at one end for carting away the dung, it will 
be a great improvement. The wall on the fouth fide 
fliould be of fuch a height as entirely to prevent the fun’s 
rays from reaching the dung; on the other three fides fix 
feet in height from the ground will be fufficient. The 
roof may be thatched, and fupported on pillars. If the 
bottom be not clay or chalk naturally, it mull be laid 
•with one of thofe fubflances, and the upper part fhould 
be paved with broad flags or common paving-ftones. At 
the end oppoflte to the opening a refervoir may be dug 
to receive the moifture; it fhould be water-tight, and a 
pump fhould be put into it to draw off the moifture daily. 
This may be thrown back on the dung-heap, or drawn 
into a barrel on a cart, and either fpread immediately on 
the land, or mixed with other fubflances in a comport. 
Dung is applied iqdifcriminately upon all foils, at al- 
moft any feafon, and for eveiy crop. Of all manures 
commonly in ufe, none can be conlidered as a more im¬ 
mediate food for plants; and, when applied to vegetables 
Vol.X. N0.68+. 
in a growing ftatc,they immediately begin to thrive. On 
this theory it feems abfurd that great quantities of rich 
dung fliould be laid upon the fallows at the end of au¬ 
tumn, and Hill worfe about midiunimer, there to remain 
till the enfuing fpring before it can be of any ufe tc the 
plants; for, if the fallow be fown with wheat or any 
other winter-crop, the growth of the plants being flati¬ 
onary, they need little nourifhment; in the mean time 
the (alts contained in the dung, after having been fpread 
abroad a month, or perhaps fix weeks, diffolvin.g readily 
in water, are carried off by the winter rains ; and when, 
the fpring arriving, the plants begin to vegetate, a great 
part of what was deftined for their nourifliment has been 
waffied away and loft. 
Farther, where fallows have been well wrought, and 
the foil thus completely reduced, mixing it with dung in 
that ftate prevents it from acquiring a fufficient degree of 
compa&nefs to (belter the robts of the plants, efpecially 
if the foil be naturally of a light open texture, and the 
dung full of half-rotted ftraw, as is commonly die cafe. 
The operation of the winter’s froft renders it (till loofer, 
fo that in fpring it is nearly in the rtate of a mole-hill; 
the baneful effefts of which to a wheat-crop are obvious. 
Now, were a portion at lealt of the dung withheld till 
the fpring, the land would be more compact, the plants 
lefs liable to be thrown out of the ground by the froft, 
and, the dung being applied as a top-drefling at the time 
when vegetation was commencing, the ufeful parts of the 
dung would be taken up by the plants, every time it was 
moiftened, as the crop in its progreffive growth mod 
wanted it. In this mode of application no part of the 
dung would be loft, and, a leis quantity being required 
for the drefling, three times the quantity of land might 
be dreffed annually; and, being applied in a quantity luf- 
ficient only for the nourifhment of the crop, the plants 
are fed in the fame manner as the animal body, every 
(mail dofe operating like a meal. 
Some are of opinion that the firft rank quality of dung 
is highly beneficial, and its principal virtue. Mr. Bel¬ 
cher, on the contrary, is inclined to think that it is more 
or lefs injurious, greatly fo in horfe-dung, which is evi¬ 
dently unfit for plants when new. In his opinion the 
belt mode of ufing ail dung, except in comport, on cold 
ft iff ground efpecially, is to carry it on rough, and to fal¬ 
low that and the foil together; whereby, at the fame time 
that they are incorporated, the feeds of weeds are forced 
into vegetation, and completely deftroyed. 
It is dated by a very eorrefl practical obferver, that 
the dung of fat animals is unqueftionably more rich, and 
confequently poffeffes greater powers of fertilization, than 
the dung of lean ones ; and that the quality of the dung 
of every fort of animal will, in a great meafure, be pro¬ 
portioned to the goodnels or poverty of its food. Thus^ 
when the animal is fed on oily feeds, fuch as lint, rape, 
and others of a fimilar nature, it will be the moft rich ; 
when kept on oil-cake, or thofe feeds which have been 
deprived of part of their oily matter, the next fo ; on 
turnips, carrots, and fuch like vegetable-roots, the next; 
on the belt hay, next; on ordinary hay, next; and on 
ftraw, perhaps, the pooreft of all. The dung of lean 
hard-working cattle, feeding on ftraw, mull, he conceives, 
be poor indeed. 
The common practice is to fet the dung upon the land 
in fmall heaps or hillocks, and to fpread it by a man 
(landing on the ground. In fome of the midland counties 
the prevailing cuftoin is to fpread it out of the carriage, 
as it is brought into the field, by a man or men ftanding 
in the carriage. 
Dung fhould never be moved in fummer. The imme¬ 
diate aftion of the fun’s rays exhaufts it of its moifture, 
and it is an erroneous idea that this evaporation carries 
off merely aqueous particles ; the lalts, the oils rendered 
mifcible with water by alkaline lalts or calcareous earth, 
and the inflammable air, are all diffipated with the water. 
To turn a dunghill over, then to throw it into carts, ex- 
7 C pofe 
