558 
HUSBi 
pcfe it in heaps, and to fpread it a fecond time in fum-. 
nier, is to give the fun a power of nearly exhauFing its 
virtues. A Hertfordfhire farmer on the contrary never 
car: ies dung out to chodfe in winter, thinking that the 
rains, &c. damage it much.; but in fummer he does not 
think its being expofed to the fun a detriment, fuppofing 
the heat to exhale only the watery particles. He has 
found one load laid on at Midfummer as good as two or 
three at Chriftmas. The freftier the dung is ufed, the 
better he thinks it for any crop, even for grafs, provided 
it be laid on eariy in autumn. He has found long dung 
of only one or two months old to be better, load for load, 
than black fpit dung for turnips. In forming a dung¬ 
hill, he fays, the dung will not rot if the carts drive on to 
it; but if the dung be fnot out of the hill-, and then thrown 
up, without any trampling, it will rot much i'ooner and 
better. This alio is the Norfolk practice. 
Perhaps there is no way in which dung is ufed where 
its'effe&s are lb certain and vifible as upon potatoes and 
turnips. For potatoes it is laid on when the fpring is 
pretty far advanced, after which there are few heavy 
rains, of Courfe the ftrength of the dung is not impaired 
by walking, and the crop is left in quiet polTeflion of the 
■whole of its fertilizing powers. For turnips the cafe is 
nearly the fame ; indeed the advantage is Fill greater, 
dung not being laid upon turnip-land fooner than June, 
after which there is feldom much wet weather till au¬ 
tumn ; and by that'time the crop is in full vigour. 
As to laying dung upon meadows, farmers differ in 
opinion; fome preferring the fpring, for producing an 
early vegetation and a plentiful crop ; others thinking, 
that, though dreflings of loot and fine alhes'at that feafon 
are of much ufe, yet that dung ought to be laid on at 
the end of autumn, not to taint the juices of the enfuing 
crop. It is thought to be a good practice by fome to 
fpread the dung as foon as the hay is cleared. If laid on 
in the winter, or early in the fpring, the froft will take 
effeft upon the manure before the grafs can reap any ad¬ 
vantage ; and the rains, coming whilF tjie manure is ex¬ 
pofed on the-furface, walhes awuy its virtues before vege¬ 
tation is awakened by the fun. But in July, if there be 
any Ihowers, the quick growth of the after-gyafs will 
flicker and protect the manure ; and nothing is to be 
feared but a fevere drought. In this cafe, however, this 
after-growth fhould be left through winter, to be fed in 
the fpring, when the value of fuch feed will be great, and 
the dung, by means of fuch a covering will be guarded 
againft the frolt in the beF poffible manner. Mr. Miller, 
however, reprobates the dreffmg of grafs-ground in fum¬ 
mer, foon after the crop of hay is taken off the land ; be- 
caufe before Michaelmas the fun will have exhaled molt 
of the goodnefs, if the dreffmg be of dung, or any other 
loft manure. 
It is moltly the cultom to collect manure of every de¬ 
scription into one heap. . Hence fubltances very oppofite 
in their nature, and which may be wanted at different 
times and for different purpofes, are laid together, and, 
inltead of forming a ufeful combination, perhaps prevent 
the dung from fermenting as it ought. Every farmer 
therefore fhould have at lealt two or three dunghills, to be 
prepared for ufe according to the time at which the con¬ 
tents of each may be wanted, and the articles 1 of which 
they are refpeftively compoled. 
If earth, mofs, lhovellings of highways, &c. can be 
procured, the bottom of any dunghill compoled of rank 
Fable-dung or Ihort excremental dung may be laid three 
or four feet deep with thefe fubltances. This will in- 
creafe the quantity of manure, for the raoifture that is 
pfefied out during the 'fermentation will fink into the 
earth, &c. and imprcgnate.it with its falts ; and, if the 
whole be afterwards turned and incorporated, what was 
laid in the bottom will be found of nearly equal value 
with the dung iffelf. 
Some dull actions are to be made refpefting the differ¬ 
ent forts of animal dung. Horfe-dung' is more diftin- 
iNDRY, 
gui'lhed for the readinefs with which it ferments, than for 
its intrinfic richnefs. Stable-quick, or horfe-dung mixed 
with ftraw, properly fermented, is of primary uie in the 
kitchen-garden, where it fupplies the want of the fun’s 
heat in winter; affording at an early feafon many efcu- 
lent plants which we could otherwise have only for a 
fliort time in the middle of fummer, and others which 
our moiF and cold ciimate would not produce at all in 
any perfection ; as alparagus, cucumbers, melons, cauli¬ 
flowers, falad-herbs, &c. See Hot-Beds, under the arti¬ 
cle Horticulture, p. 4.0a, of this volume. 
Horfe-dung’ is one of the beF improvements for cold 
lands that can be procured in any quantity ; yet alone, 
or when it is too new, it is prejudicial to fome plants ; 
and, if it be .fpread thin over lands in the fummer-time, 
it is of very little fervice, becaufe the fun draws out ail 
the goodnefs of it, and it becomes little better than 
thatch o'r dry ftraw. Although too much of it can 
fcarcely be ufed in a kitchen-garden, yet it may be a 
fault to lay too much on corn-land, becaufe it may be 
«ipt to make the corn run too much to ftraw. In very 
moiF cold land, crops will fucceed better, if new horfe- 
dung, as it comes from the Fable, be buried in it, than 
if the ground be drefled with very rotten dilng. Horfe- 
dung, in a raw Fate, is well calculated for potatoes, be¬ 
caufe it leaves room for the roots of that plant to fprea'd. 
But, if it be not fermented, it contains much undigeFed 
vegetable matter, and confequently the feeds of many 
weeds which may have got into the food of the animal. 
Cow-dung is very ufeful for lean, dry, hot, fandy, or 
gravelly, foils. The excrement of a ruminating animal 
is held to be preferable to that of horfes at grafs, owing 
to the quantity of animal juices mixed with their food in 
chewing;, but, fince it does not contain'much undigeFed 
matter, it will hardly heat. The beF way of managing it 
is to lay it together, and keep it moiF till it is fufficiently 
putrified. Being mixed with horfe-dung it makes a 
good manure for moF forts of foil, and with mud for 
fome. 
Sbeep’s-dung and deer’s-dung differ not much in qua¬ 
lity, and'are eileemed by fome the beF manure for cold 
clays. Some recommend them to be ufed as top-dreflings 
to autumn and fpring crops, four or five loads to an acre, 
in the fame manner, with allies, malt-duF, &c. 
I11 Flanders they houfe their flieep at night in places 
fpread with clean fand, laid five or fix inches thick, fome 
being added every day, and the whole cleared out once, 
a-week. This mixture makes an excellent drefling’ for 
Frong or cold Fiffland. This method has been adopted 
in his majeffy’s farm at Windfor. In hard weather the 
flock is penned in a fixed fold, made large, and divided 
into two parts, pitched in fome flickered fpot, laid a foot 
thick with maiden earth, and daily littered with leaves, 
mofs, fern, ftubble, &c. When the flieep leave this fold, 
a layer of lime, chalk, or peat-afh, is put upon the top, 
and the whole beiqg mixed together makes excellent ma-, 
nure for a turnip-crop. Six hundred loads of excellent 
compoF have thus been made in three months from fix 
hundred flieep. In Holland, (heep’s-dung is carefully 
collefted, cut into fmail pieces, and fold in baikets at a 
high price. 
Swine’s-dung is a good manure for fruit-trees, efpeci- 
ally apples and pears, in a light foil ; and is a very rich 
manure for grafs. Mr. Miller affirms that he has often 
ufed it to fruit-trees, when it was well rotted, and found 
It the moF beneficial of any manure: night-foil mull,., 
however, be excepted : fwiiie’S-dung is richer in propor¬ 
tion as the animal is fatter ; it is of an oily and lapona- 
ceous quality ; it fliould be ufed with caution on arable 
lands however, becaufe it is apt to be full o.f weeds. 
Pige.on’s-dung is certainly a rich manure, but not laft- 
ing; it mult therefore be renewed the oftener. It is moll 
applicable to cold and deep Fiff land. Sometimes it is 
fown upon wheat-crops in the fpring. It fliould always 
be broke very fmail,and lown during moiF weather; and,. 
. if 
