170 
but, however, this may be, it does not interfere with the subject in 
hand—the relative value of long and short manures. 
Still it is astonishing that many farmers, and good farmers too, claim 
that it is positively injurious for manures to ferment in the soil. Upon 
what principle of reason or philosophy this belief is formed it would be 
difficult to decide. It cannot be the result of experience, nor yet is it 
even tenable theory; but most probably it arose from some isolated ex¬ 
perience, gained force from circumstance, and at last increased in au¬ 
thority until it became treason almost to disbelieve it. Practice does not 
prove it, science disproves it, and nature maintains the veracity of science. 
Manure introduced fresh into the soil, undergoes there the identical 
changes which it does in the heap ; so that the same end is at last gained, 
and the manure remains in the soil after its full decomposition, equally 
as though it was introduced after the decomposition had taken place in the 
dunghill; but the changes are slower, and we may with good reason say 
to much better advantage, for as the decomposition takes place slower, 
the elements are formed, as they can be taken up by the plant, and not 
given it all at once; and being mixed with a large quantity of inert mat¬ 
ter, and in presence of the spongioles, not only the volatile but also the 
fixed elements will be more completely assimilated, and less manure will 
produce greater results when applied fresh, than large quantities of fully 
decomposed matter. 
But leaving this dry philosophizing let us enquire of nature and ex¬ 
perience. Pastures which receive fresh manure daily, instead of show¬ 
ing injurious' results manifest the opposite, and an Italian chemist* has 
proven by repeated experiments that a soil composed of one-fourth fresh 
horse dung gave no indications of any deleterious effects. The same 
chemist has also shown, that horse dung loses in four months one-half 
of its fertilizing power, by being suffered to ferment in heaps. Sir 
Humphrey Davy has also proved the same fact by repeated experiment, 
and shown that the loss of volatile fertilizing elements is very great, far 
above even the usual calculation. 
This experiment was, I believe, as follows: He enclosed manure in a 
large iron retort, with a long neck, and then introduced the neck of the 
retort into the earth at the roots of plants, and noted the effects on the 
* M. Gazzeri. 
I 
