HUSB 
aifts upon- the foil itfelf. Many other falts poffefs the pro¬ 
perties of -nitre in a greater degree, and the moft benefi¬ 
cial of them may be procured at 1 'mall expence. Aii falts 
with metallic bales, being of a cauftic nature, mull be ex¬ 
cepted. 
Refufe fait may be had in London for 3I. 10s. the ton. 
It is therefore much cheaper than oil-cake. Would it 
not anl'wer better? Might it not be fown and harrowed 
in March or April on land intended for turnips? but cer¬ 
tainly never with the feed, as oil-cake is. There can be 
no doubt of the propriety of throwing fait into all dung¬ 
hills, when they are turned over 5 or when the yard-dung 
is fhovelled on to heaps. Suppofe ten loads -to be the 
quantity of dung for an acre ; five, with a quarter of a 
ton of fait, would probably be better; but, great atten¬ 
tion would be neceffary in mixing and fpreading. The 
refult of fome experiments made by Mr. Young were 
highly in favour of frit when diffolved in water, and ad¬ 
ded to dung; and fuggell an important leffon for the ad¬ 
dition of falt-water to dunghills. 
Mr. Legrand, of Guilton-houfe, near Sandwich, having 
tried foul fait upon a fandy foil, found fixteen bufhels to 
be a proper quantity for an acre. He ul’ed it upon a bar¬ 
ley-tilth; fowing the fait immediately after the barley. 
The event was perfectly fatisfaftory. It is noxious both 
to weeds and vermin. 
Salt remaining after it has been ufed for preferving pil¬ 
chards, has been employed with great fuccefs in Corn¬ 
wall, in the cultivation of turnips- 
In whatever way lubftances of the Inline kind may pro¬ 
duce their effects.in promoting vegetation, when employ¬ 
ed as manures, it is evident, from their containing in 
themfelves little or nothing of fuch matters as are capable 
of affording nourifhment to plants, that they may in moll 
cafes be made ufe of to the greateft advantage by being 
mixed and incorporated with fuch lubllances as they are 
capable of afting upon and reducing to a ftate proper for. 
the fupport of vegetable crops ; l'uch as rich earthy ma¬ 
terials, imperfeftly-reduced dung, and other matters of a 
fimilar kind. Where fubftances that contain the muriat 
of foda, or fea~ktlt, are employed, they might probably be 
applied to much advantage by being mixed with imper- 
feftly-burnt clay, when reduced to the Hate of powder. 
And if, upon trial, they fhculd be found effeftual in this 
form, they might be very conveniently made ufe of in the 
way of top-dreffings to grafs or grain-crops in the fpring. 
And, as every where in the vicinity of the fea a ready 
means of obtaining this laline material in unlimited quan¬ 
tities offers itfelf, it may deferve more particularly the 
notice of the agriculturift; and more efpefially as many 
other fubftances that are known to contain or be impreg¬ 
nated with it, fuch as the weed thrown up by the tides, 
and the fand over which they flow', can be eafily procured. 
COMPOUND MANURES, or COMPOSTS. 
It is evident, from what has been already cbferved on 
the nature of the different fubftances that are capable of 
being made ufe of as manures, that they may frequently 
be mixed and blended with each other, or with fub¬ 
ftances of other kinds, and by l'uch means be not only 
confiderably increafed in quantity, but in many cafes ren¬ 
dered more effectual and more fuitable for application 
than in their ftmple ftates ; but, at the fame time, that 
fome of them may be mixed and incorporated in this way 
with rauth more advantage than others; for, though the 
general experience of farmers has fully Ih.own the great 
importance and utility of employing compound manures, 
or compofts, little attention has, till lately, been paid to 
the compounding or mixing together of fuch fubftances 
as are, from the principles which they originally contain, 
or which arc formed from them in the changes which they 
undergo in the different Itages of their decompofition, 
adapted to aft in the molt fuitable manner for producing 
fuch combinations or alterations in the materials as are 
ANDRY. 575 
capable .of being beneficial in the promotion of vegetation 
when they are employed as manures. 
Farm-yard manure, which is the molt general applica¬ 
tion of any, from its being formed by the decay of vari¬ 
ous kinds of vegetable matters, fuch as hay, ft raw, fern, 
and many other materials of a fimilar nature, with which 
the dung and urine of animals is incorporated and com¬ 
bined, muft be confidered as a compound fubftance. And 
from the large proportion in which fuch vegetable pro¬ 
ductions enter into its compofition, and the quantity of 
earthy materials that is in moll cafes, efpecially where the 
management is upon a judicious plan, added by the lay¬ 
ing of fuitable bottoms, it is not fo frequently neceffary 
to be blended with other fubftances that are ufually em¬ 
ployed in forming compofts. But from mod of the ve¬ 
getable materials that conftitute the chief part of this fort 
of manure, being made ufe of in a dry and hard ftate, 
they do not fo quickly ferment or run into the ftate of 
decay, notvvithftanding the proportion of animalized mat¬ 
ters that may be mixed with them; it therefore becomes 
an ufeful practice to turn them over-, by which their com¬ 
plete putrefaction may not only be promoted, but the 
different materials be more minutely blended together, on 
both which accounts they may become more uleful when 
applied as manure upon land. In the forming of this 
manure, care ihould alfo be conftantly taken that the heaps 
be fo fituated as that they may not become too dry, or^ 
too much loaked in water, as in either cafe they muft be 
greatly injured. Whenever it may be requilite to incor¬ 
porate any earthy material with this fort of manure, the 
agricultor Ihould always carefully attend to the ftate or 
richnefs in which it may exift in the yard, and proportion 
fuch additions accordingly. It will however never de¬ 
mand nearly fo large a proportion, as fuch manures as 
confift almolt wholly of animal matters. 
It is fuppofed that the richelt compofts may be made 
in the farm-yard, which Ihould be made deepening all 
round from the fides to the middle in form of a hollow 
ditch or bafon. When the yard is made in this form, lit¬ 
tle of the urine or liquid part of the manure can run oft' 
or be wafted. When the dung is carried from the ftables,. 
cow-houfes, &c. into the farm-yard, it Ihould not be 
thrown carelefsly in heaps, each fort by itfelf, but carried 
in carts or wheelbarrows, and laid regularly, and fpread - 
all over the -yard. Upon this Ihould be fpread a tliiu 
layer of earth, mud, the fcowerings of ditches and ponds, 
green vegetables before they run to feed, and other fuch 
materialsas are moll fuitable to the nature of the land to 
be manured with them. The racks and cribs out of which 
the cattle are foddered Ihouid be frequently moved over 
the yard, that the offal ftraw' and hay may be equally dif- 
perfed, and trod in by the cattle. This method of fpread¬ 
ing the dung and other materials being continued, the 
whole will be incorporated with the urine of the cattle, 
and make an extraordinary rich comport. It is fuppofed 
that the only inconvenience of this kind of comport, is 
its being filled with the feeds of weeds, from the earth 
mixed with it, the hay, ltraw, and dung, of the cattle. It 
is therefore a manure belt luited to grafs-grounds, and 
to fuch arable lands as are to be hoed, as turnips, cab-, 
bages, carrots, potatoes, beans, &c. as thefe weeds will in 
a great mealure be deftroyed by good hoeing; or a proper 
attention to the after-culture of the crops. 
Where animal matters are collected and thrown toge¬ 
ther in any quantity, there can be little doubt but that a 
great increale of good manure may be provided by mix¬ 
ing with them, as has been already obferved, rich furface-- 
mould, peat-earth, or the fcrapings of old ditches and 
roads; as, by luch a practice, the ammonia formed during 
the decompofition of the animal fubftances is prevented 
from efcaping, as would otherwife be the cafe, which, by 
combining with and afting upon the earthy materials, 
quickly renders them proper for the purpofes of manure. 
As lubftances of the animal kind have been Ihown to run. 
1 very ; 
