32 
MANURES. 
voided These circumstances are intimately connected 
with 
THE QUALITY OF THE DUNG-. 
It is affected, first, by the season; second, by the 
age; third, by the sex; fourth, by the condition ; fifth, 
by the mode of employment; sixth, by the nature of 
the beast; seventh, the kind of food. 
1st. The season. It is, because digestion is worse in 
summer than in winter, a general fact, that summer 
manure is best. And where cattle are summer soiled, 
it is said the manure is worth double that from stall- 
fed winter cattle. I do not think much is to be attri¬ 
buted to the worse digestion in summer; but the cause 
of this great difference in value is to be found in the 
fact, that soiled cattle generally get a large proportion 
of blood-forming food. 
The wear and tear of their flesh is little, and hence, 
requiring little of their food to keep up their flesh, a 
greater portion goes off in dung, which thus becomes 
rich in ammonia. The green plants, rich in nitrogen, 
afford abundance for milk, which, being rich in all 
the elements of-cream, should afford large returns of 
butter. 
2d. Age. From the fact, that young and growing 
animals require not only food to form flesh and blood 
to repair the incessant waste and change taking place 
in their bodies, as in older animals, but also a further 
supply to increase the bulk of their frame, it is evi¬ 
dent that their food will be more completely exhausted 
of all its principles, and that also less will be returned 
as dung. All experience confirms this reasoning, and 
decides that the manure of young animals is ever the 
weakest and poorest. 
3d. The sex. This is one of the most powerful of 
the causes which affect the strength of dung. From 
