cross-ploughed; and after lying till sufficiently dry to admit the harrows, it is harrowed and rolled repeatedly, and every particle of the vivacious roots of weeds brought up to view, carefully gathered by hand into heaps, and either burnt on the field, or carted off to the compost heap. The fallow is then ridged up, which places it in a safe condition in the event of bad weather, and exposes a new surface to the harrows and roller; after which the weeds are again gathered by hand, but a previous harrowing is necessary. It is afterwards ploughed, harrowed, rolled, and gathered as often as it may be necessary to reduce it into fine tilth, and completely to eradicate all root-weeds. Between these successive operations, repeated crops of seedling weeds are brought into vegetation, and destroyed. The larvæ likewise of various insects, together with an infinite variety of the seeds of weeds, are exposed to be devoured by birds, which are then the farmer's best friends, though often proscribed as his bitterest enemies. 4953. The use of the harrow and roller in the fallow process, has been condemned by some writers on husbandry, who allege that frequent ploughing is all that is necessary to destroy rootweeds, by the baking or drying of the clods in the sun and wind; but experience has ascertained, that frequently turning over the ground, though absolutely necessary while the fallow process is going on, can never eradicate couch-grass or other root-weeds. In all clay soils, the ground turns up in lumps or clods, which the severest drought will not penetrate so sufficiently as to kill the included roots. When the land is again ploughed, these lumps are turned over and no more, and the action of the plough serves in no degree to reduce them, or at least very imperceptibly. It may be added, that these lumps likewise enclose innumerable seeds of weeds, which cannot vegetate unless brought under the influence of the sun and air near the surface. The diligent use, therefore, of the harrow and roller, followed by careful hand-picking, is indispensably necessary to the perfection of a fallow process. (General Report of Scotland, vol. iv. p. 419.) 4954. The working of fallows by the grubber, is an important modern improvement. We have already described several of these implements, and shall here introduce one which has been made public since the first five hundred pages of this work were printed. 4955. Kirkwood's improved grubber (fig. 721.) has this peculiar advantage, that "the whole of the body of the instrument, and of course all the teeth, can be raised out of the ground at pleasure, and even while the machine is in motion; which is. extremely convenient, not only in turning at the head ridges, but whenever an obstruction is met with in the ground, arising from rocky, retentive, or other impenetrable soils. In such of these as would completely interrupt the progress of the ordinary instrument, this proceeds with ease, by merely being lifted more or less over them. The operation is performed by the driver bearing with his weight on the guiding handles of the grubber; and this pressure is made to raise the whole machine by a very skilful application of mechanical power. The pressure on the guiding handles (a), it will be observed, turns the whole handle round the axle of the hind wheels (b b), as round a fulcrum, so that the handle then becomes a lever, on the shorter extremity of which the frame of the teeth rests. It is evident, therefore, that by bearing on the handle which forms the long end of the lever, the shorter end must be raised, and along with it the hinder part of the teeth-frame, and, of course, the teeth also. But there is still another contrivance, by which the force is made to act at the same time on the forepart of the frame, and to raise it likewise. This is done by a long rod (de), which is attached at the extremity to a fulcrum (d), raised on the handle frame, and at the other to the one end of a bent lever (e fg), which turns on the axle of the fore wheel as a centre, and at an intermediate point carries the fore end of the teeth frame. While the handle, therefore, is depressed, and raises the hinder part of this frame, it at the same time pulls the rod, turns the front lever round the axle of the fore wheel, and by this means elevates the teeth before as well as behind. The whole operation is simple, ingenious, and efficient." (Highl. Soc. Trans. vol. viii. p. 132) ~~~ 721 - 4956. When effectually reduced to fine tilth, and thoroughly cleaned from roots and weeds, the fallow is ploughed end-long into gathered ridges or lands, usually fifteen or eighteen feet broad. If the seed is to be drilled, the lands or ridges are made of such widths as may suit the construction of the particular drillmachine to be employed. If the seed is to be sown by hand, the lands or ridges are commonly formed into what are called single or double cast ridges; the first of four paces or steps, and the latter of eight steps in width. These widths are found the most convenient for a one-handed sower. An expert sower can, however, measure his handful to almost any width; but the above long experience has made the standard. After the land has been once gathered by a deep furrow, proportioned to the depth of the cultivated soil, the manure is laid on, and evenly spread over the surface, whether muck, lime, marl, or compost. A second gathering is now given by the plough; and this being generally the furrow upon which the seed is sown, great care is used to plough as equally as possible. After the seed is sown and the land thoroughly harrowed, all the inter-furrows, furrows of the headlands, and oblique or gaw furrows, are carefully opened up by the plough, and cleared out by the spade, as already mentioned, respecting the first or winter ploughing. 4957. The expense of fallowing may appear, from what has been said, to be very considerable, when land has been allowed to become stocked with weeds; but if it be kept under regular management, corn alternating with drilled pulse or green crops, the subsequent returns of fallow will not require near so much labour. In common cases, from four to six ploughings are generally given, with harrowing and rolling between, as may be found necessary; and, as we have already noticed, the cultivator may be employed to diminish this heavy expense. But it must be considered, that upon the manner in which the fallow operations are conducted, depend not only the ensuing wheat crop, but in a great measure all the crops of the rotation. (Supp. to Encyc. Brit. art. Agr. 128.) SECT. III. General Management of Manures. 4958. The manures of animal, vegetable, or mineral origin have been already described, and their operation explained. (2224.) But a very few of these substances can be ob tained by farmers in general; whose standard resources are farm-yard dung and lime, and composts of these with earth. It is on the management of these that we propose to deliver the practice of the best British farmers. 804 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. SUBSECT. 1. Management of Farm-yard Dung. 4959. The basis of farm-yard dung is straw, to which is added, in its progress through the farm-yard, the excrementitious substances of live stock. From every ton of dry straw, about three tons of farm-yard dung may be obtained, if the after-management be properly conducted; and, as the weight of straw per acre runs from one ton to one and a half, Hence (it may be about four tons of dung, on an average of the different crops, may be produced from the (Husbandry of Scotland, vol. ii.) straw of every acre under corn. noticed) the great importance of cutting corn as low as possible; a few inches at the root of the stalk weighing more than double the same length at the ear. 4960. The conversion of straw into farm yard dung in the farmery, is thus effected:-The straw is served out to cattle and horses in the houses and fold-yards, either as provender or litter, and commonly for both purposes; turnips in winter, and green clover in summer, are given to the stock both in the houses and yards: on this food the animals pass a great deal of urine, and afford the means of converting the straw into a richer manure than if it were eaten alone. All the dung from the houses, as they are cleaned out, is regularly spread over the yards in which young cattle are left loose, where litter is usually allowed in great abundance; or over the dunghill itself, if there is one at hand. This renders the quality of the whole mass more uniform; and the horse-dung, which is of a hot nature, promotes the decomposition of the woody fibres of the straw. 4961. The preparation of the contents of the farm-yard for laying on the land, is by turning it over; or, what is preferable, carting it out to a dunghill. The operation of carting out is usually performed during the frosts of winter: it is then taken to the field in which it is to be employed, and neatly built in dunghills of a square form, three or four feet high, and of such a length and breadth as circumstances may require. What is laid up in this manner early in winter, is commonly sufficiently prepared for turnips in June; but if not carried from the straw-yards till spring, it is necessary to turn it once or oftener, for the purpose of accelerating the decomposition of the strawy part of the mass. When dung is applied to fallows in July or August, preparatively to autumn-sown wheat, a much less degree of putrefaction will suffice than for turnips: a clay soil, on which alone fallows should ever be resorted to, not requiring dung so much rotted as a finely pulverised turnip soil; and besides, as the wheat does not need all the benefit of the dung for some time, the woody fibre is gradually broken down in the course of the winter, and the nourishment of the plants continued till spring, or later, when its effects are most beneficial. "His lordship has ever found, that, instead 4962. Management of stable dung. There is a most valuable paper on this subject by Lord Meadowbank, in the second volume of the Com. to the Board of Agr. of dung being the richest manure when completely fermented, it should, if possible, be laid on when very imperfectly fermented, but nevertheless when the process is going on at such a rate as that it must continue after mixture with the soil till it is completed. Every gardener knows, that the dung used in hotbeds has little effect in comparison of fresh dung; and every farmer knows, that a dunghill, which has by any accident been kept for years, is of little more value than so much very rich earth. Every person of attention, too, must have remarked the great effects which ensue from turning over a dunghill recently before using it, and that composts operate most powerfully, if used when sensibly hot, from the activity of the fermentation which the recent mixture of the ingredients has occasioned, and when, consequently, that process is very far from being completed." As farm dunghills are formed by degrees, it is desirable to retard the fermentation of that which is first made, or to retain it in a state of fermentation, " so slow or imperfect, that it may suffer little till after being turned over with the later made dung, it forms one powerfully fermenting mass; and that then it should be put into the soil, when the process is so far advanced that it will be completed, when, at the same time, little loss of substance has yet been suffered, and when what volatile matter is afterwards extricated will diffuse itself through the soil In these circumstances, every thing is lodged in the soil that the dung can yield, either in point of mass or activity; and I certainly, therefore, approve of the preservaat the same time it is in a state when most likely to act as a powerful ferment, for promoting the putrefaction of the decayed vegetables lying inert in the soil. tion of dunghills from much sun and much wind, as well as from that redundancy of moisture which is apt to overflow and wash away the manure: but I think the pressure which the feet of animals give them, especially of the lighter sort, does good, and prevents that violent fermentation which wastes the substance, and, in my opinion, exhausts the fertilising powers of dung. This pressure contributes to preserve it fresh till the time of employing it as a manure calls for putting it altogether, and at once, into that highly active state of putrefaction, which, though no doubt checked by its distribution in the soil, is sufficient to ensure a gradual and complete dissolution and diffusion of its substance. Unless, therefore, dung is to be used for composts, it appears to me clearly advantageous to get the dung into the soil as I could never discover any early as possible; it is always wasting somewhat, when kept out of it: but when put into the soil in a proper state, there is the utmost reason to think that what is extricated goes all to fertilise. Give me leave to add, that I do not believe much is lost by dissolution in rain water. thing of the kind in the water of the furrows of a field properly manured and ploughed. The case, every person knows, is quite different in fields recently limed or dressed with ashes; but I am apt to think, that the volatile and soluble parts of common dunghills have some attraction with the substance of soils, that prevents their escape. We know that common loam extracts the noisome smell of the woollen cloths used for intercepting the coarser oils that accompany spirits distilled from the sugar-cane, which scarce any detergent besides can obtain from it; and garden loam, impregnated as it must be with fermented dung, is certainly not easily deprived of its fertility by the washing of rain. I must also observe, that I take one of the great advantages derived from using dung with composts to be, the arresting and preserv ing the fertilising matter which escapes in the putrefactive fermentation; and another to be, that dung there operates as a ferment, to putrefy substances not sufficiently disposed to putrefy with activity of themselves. You will observe, that this coincides exactly with the effects I have attributed to it upon soil, and affords a very useful corollary with respect to the substances to be used in top-dressings, which are not to be covered with soil; viz. that if fermenting or putrefying substances are used, the process should have been completed, or nearly so, in a combination that has received the full benefit of it: that it is a great waste to spread common dung on grass, without having first mixed it with sand, loam, or other matter in which it has been dissolved and fixed; so that when spread on the ground, the loss, which would otherwise arise from fermentation and evaporation, is avoided; and that, if such a compost is used at the time when the plants are in a growing state, and in a way to cover it soon, it is by far the most advantageous method of laying it on." (Comm. B. Agr. vol. ii. p. 387.) He lays his dung, as often as possible, close 4963. The husbandman of Brabant is careful that his manure should never become parched and dried If this cannot be avoided, he contrives to lay up, by which means all the volatile salts would evaporate. As a receptacle for their dung, they to his stables and cow-houses, and sheltered from the sun. it under some large tree, to partake of the shade of its boughs. generally dig a pit, five or six feet deep, with sufficient dimensions for the necessary deposit, from the month of March till harvest is over. The more opulent farmers are not satisfied with merely digging such a pit: they further pave and line it with bricks, that the earth should not absorb any of its parts; but that the thick matter should remain plunged in a mass of stale, increased further by rain. The stables and cow-houses are paved and sloped in such a manner as to communicate with a drain, which conveys all the stale of their cattle towards the dung pit, which, by this contrivance, it keeps constantly supplying." (Comm. B. Agr. vol. ii.) 4964. In the application of farm-yard dung to land under tillage, particular attention is paid to the cleanness of the soil; and to use it at a time when, from the pulverisation of the ground, it may be most intimately mixed with it. The most common time of manuring with farm-yard dung is, therefore, either towards the conclusion of the fallowing operations, or immediately before the sowing of fallow crops. If no dung can be procured but what is made from the produce of the farm, it will seldom be possible to allow more than ten or twelve tons to every acre, when the land is managed under a regular course of white and green crops; and it is thought more advantageous to repeat this dose at short intervals, than to give a larger quantity at once, and at a more distant period in proportion. (General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 517.) Farm-yard dung, it is well known, is greatly reduced in value by being exposed to the atmosphere in small heaps, previously to being spread, and still more after being spread. Its rich juices are exhaled by the sun, or washed away by the rains, and the residuum is comparatively worthless. This is in an especial manner the case with long fresh dung, the far greater part of which consists of wet straw in an entire state. All careful farmers, accordingly, spread and cover in their dung with the plough, as soon as possible after it is brought on the land. 4965. The use of fresh dung is decidedly opposite to the practice of the best farmers of turnip soils; its inutility, or rather injurious effects, from its opening the soil too much, is a matter of experience with every one who cultivates drilled turnips on a large scale. As the whole farm-yard dung, on such land, is applied to the turnip crop, it must necessarily happen that it should be laid on in different stages of putre. faction; and what is made very late in spring, often after a very slight fermentation, or none at all. The experience of the effect of recent dung is accordingly very general, and the result, in almost every case, is, that the growth of the young plants is slow; that they remain long in a feeble and doubtful state; and that they seldom, in ordinary seasons, become a full crop, even though twice the quantity that is given of short muck has been allowed. On the other hand, when the manure is considerably decomposed, the effects are immediate, the plants rise vigorously, and soon put forth their rough leaf, after which the beetle or fly does not seize on them; and in a few weeks, the leaves become so large, that the plants probably draw the greatest part of their nourishment from the atmosphere. Though it were true, therefore, that more nutritive matter is given out by a certain quantity of dung, applied in a recent state, and allowed to decompose gradually in the soil, than if applied after undergoing fermentation and putrefac. tion, the objection arising from the slowness of its operation would, in many instances, be an insuperable one with farmers. But there seems reason to doubt if fresh strawy manure would ferment much in the soil, after being spread out in so small a quantity as has been already mentioned; and also if, in the warm dry weather of summer, the shallow covering of earth given by the plough would not permit the gaseous matters to escape to a much greater amount than if fermentation had been completed in a wellbuilt covered dunghill. 4966. Another great objection to the use of fresh farm-yard dung is, that the seeds and roots of those plants with which it commonly abounds spring up luxuriantly on the land; and this evil nothing but a considerable degree of fermentation can obviate. The mass of materials consists of the straw of various crops, some of the grains of which, after all the care that can be taken, will adhere to the straw; of the dung of different animals voided, as is often the case with horses fed on oats, with the grain in an entire state; and of the roots, stems, and seeds of the weeds that had grown among the straw, clover, and hay, and such as had been brought to the houses and fold-yards with the turnips and other roots given to live stock. 4967. The degree of decomposition to which farm-yard dung should arrive, before it can be deemed a pro. fitable manure, must depend on the texture of the soil, the nature of the plants, and the time of its application. In general, clayey soils, as more tenacious of moisture, and more benefited by being rendered incohesive and porous, may receive manure less decomposed than well pulverised turnip soils require. Some plants, too, seem to thrive better with fresh dung than others, potatoes in particular; but all the small-seeded plants, such as turnips, clover, carrots, &c. which are extremely tender in the early stage of their growth, require to be pushed forward into luxuriant vegetation with the least possible delay, by means of short dung. 4968. The season when manure is applied, is also a material circumstance. In spring and summer, whether used for corn or green crops, the object is to produce an immediate effect, and it should therefore be more completely decomposed than may be necessary when laid on in autumn for a crop whose condition will be almost stationary for many months. (Sup. Ency. Brit. art. Agr.) 4969. The quantity of putrescent manure requisite for each acre of land during each year is estimated, by Professor Coventry, at five tons per acre annually. That quantity being supplied, not annually, but in quantities of twenty tons per acre every four years, or twenty-five tons per acre every five years. (Quar. Jour. Agr. vol. ii. p. 335.) SUBSECT. 2. Lime, and its Management as a Manure. 4970. Lime is by far the most important of the fossil manures; and, indeed, it may be asserted, that no soil will ever be fit for much which does not contain a proportion of this earth, either naturally or by artificial application. Next to farm-yard dung, lime is in most general use as a manure, though it is one of a quite different character; and when judiciously applied, and the land laid to pasture, or cultivated for white and green crops alternately, with an adequate allowance of putrescent manure, its effects are much more lasting, and, in many instances, still more beneficial, than those of farm-yard dung. Fossil manures, Sir H. Davy observes, must produce their effect, either by becoming a constituent part of the plant, or by acting upon its more essential food, so as to render it more fitted for the purposes of vegetable life. It is, perhaps, in the former of these ways that wheat and some other plants are brought to perfection, after lime has been applied, upon land that would not bring them to maturity by the most liberal use of dung alone. This being an established fact may be considered one of the greatest importance to all cultivators. 4971. With regard to the quantity of lime that ought to be applied to different soils, it is much to be regretted that Sir Humphry Davy has not thought proper to enter fully into the subject. Clays, it is well known, require a larger quantity than sands or dry loams. It has been applied accordingly in almost every quantity from 100 to 500 bushels or upwards per acre. About 160 bushels are generally considered a full dressing for lighter soils, and 80 or 100 bushels more for heavy cohesive soils. One of the greatest advantages arising from the use of lime on gravelly or sandy soils, is its power of absorbing moisture from the air, which is in the highest degree useful to the crops in dry summers. 4972. In the application of lime to arable land, there are some general rules commonly attended to by diligent farmers, which we shall give nearly in the words of a recent publication. 1. As the effects of lime greatly depend on its intimate admixture with the surface soil, it is essential to have it in a powdery state at the time it is applied. 2. Lime having a tendency to sink in the soil, it should be ploughed in with a shallow furrow. 3. Lime may either be applied to grass land, or to land in preparation for green crops or summer fallow, with almost equal advantage; but, in general, the latter mode of application is to be preferred. 4. Lime ought not to be applied a second time to moory soils, unless mixed up as a compost, after which the land should be immediately laid down to grass. 5. Upon fresh land, the effect of lime is much superior to that of dung. The ground, likewise, more especially where it is of a strong nature, is more easily wrought; in some instances, it is said, the saving of labour would be sufficient to induce a farmer to lime his land, were no greater benefit derived from the application than the opportunity thereby gained of working it in a more perfect manner. (General Report of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 536.) 4973. In liming for improving hilly land, with a view to pasture, a much smaller quantity has been found to produce permanent and highly beneficial effects, when kept as much as possible near the surface, by being merely harrowed in with the seeds, after a fallow or green crop, instead of being buried by the plough. 4974. The successful practice of one of the most eminent farmers in Britain cannot be too generally known in a matter of so great importance to farmers of such land, especially when lime must be brought from a great distance, as was the case in the instance to which we are about to allude. "A few years after 1754," says Dawson," having a considerable extent of outfield land in fallow, which I wished to lime previously to its being laid down to pasture, and finding that I could not obtain a sufficient quantity of lime for the whole in proper time, I was induced, from observing the effects of fine loam upon the surface of similar soil, even when covered with bent, to try a small quantity of lime on the surface of this fallow, instead of a larger quantity ploughed down in the usual manner. Accordingly, in the autumn, about twenty acres of it were well harrowed, and then about fifty-six Winchester bushels only of unslacked lime were, after being slacked, carefully spread upon each English acre, and immediately well harrowed in. As many pieces of the lime, which had not been fully slacked at first, were gradually reduced to powder by the dews and moisture of the earth, to mix these with the soil, the land was again well harrowed in three or four days thereafter. This land was sown in the spring with oats, with white and red clover and rye. grass seeds, and well harrowed, without being ploughed again. The crop of oats was good; the plants of grass sufficiently numerous and healthy; and they formed a very fine pasture, which continued good until ploughed some years after for corn. About twelve years afterwards, I took a lease of the hilly farm of Grubbet; many parts of which, though of an earthy mould tolerably deep, were too steep and elevated to be kept in tillage. As these lands had been much exhausted by cropping, and were full of couch-grass, to destroy that and procure a cover of fine grass, I fallowed them, and laid on the same quantity of lime per acre, then harrowed, and sowed oats and grass seeds in the spring exactly as in the last-mentioned experiment. The oats were a full crop, and the plants of grass abundant. Several of these fields have been now above thirty years in pasture, and are still producing white clover, and other fine grasses; no bent or fog has yet appeared upon them. It deserves particular notice, that more than treble the quantity of lime was laid upon fields adjoining, of a similar soil, but which being fitter for occasional tillage, upon them the lime was ploughed in. These fields were also sown with oats and grass seeds. The latter throve well, and gave a fine pasture the first year; but afterwards the bent spread so fast, that, in three years, there was more of it than of the finer grasses." 4975. The conclusions which Dawson draws from his extensive practice in the use of lime and dung, deserve the attention of all cultivators of similar land. 1. That animal dung dropped upon coarse benty pastures, produces little or no improvement upon them; and that, even when sheep or cattle are confined to a small space, as in the case of folding, their dung ceases to produce any beneficial effect, after a few years, whether the land is continued in pasture, or brought under the plough. 2. That even when land of this description is well fallowed and dunged, but not limed, though the dung augments the produce of the subsequent crop of grain, and of grass also for two or three years, that thereafter its effects are no longer discernible either upon the one or the other. 3. That when this land is limed, if the lime is kept upon the surface of the soil, or well mixed with it, and then laid down to pasture, the finer grasses continue in possession of the soil, even in elevated and exposed situations, for a great many years, to the exclusion of bent and moss. In the case of Grubbet hills, it was observed, that more than thirty years have now elapsed. Besides this, the dung of the ani mala pastured upon such land adds every year to the luxuriance, improves the quality of the pasture, and augments the productive powers of the soil when afterwards ploughed for grain; thus producing, upon a benty outfield soil, effects similar to what are experienced when rich infield lands have been long in pasture, and thereby more and more enriched. 4 That when a large quantity of lime is laid on such land, and ploughed down deep, the same effects will not be produced, whether in respect to the permanent fineness of the pasture, its gradual ameliora. tion by the dung of the animals pastured on it, or its fertility when afterwards in tillage. On the contrary, unless the surface is fully mixed with lime, the coarse grasses will in a few years regain possession of the soil, and the dung thereafter deposited by cattle will not enrich the land for subsequent tillage. Lastly, It also appears from what has been stated, that the four.shift husbandry is only proper for very rich land, or in situations where there is a full command of dung. That by far the greatest part of the land of this country requires to be continued in grass two, three, four, or more years, according to its natural poverty; that the objection made to this, viz that the coarse grasses in a few years usurp possession of the soil, must be owing to the surface soil not being sufficiently mixed with lime, the lime having been covered too deep by the plough. (Farmer's Magazine, vol. xiii. p. 69.) SECT. IV. Composts and other Manures. 4976. Mixing farm-yard dung, in a state of fermentation, with earth, in which there is much inert vegetable matter, -as the banks of old ditches, or what is collected from the sides of lanes, &c., will bring this inert, dead matter, consisting of the roots of decayed grasses and other plants, into a state of putridity and solubility, and prepare it for nourishing the crops or plants it may be applied to, in the very manner it acts on peat. Dung, however, mixed with earth, taken from rich arable fields which have been long cultivated and manured, can have no effect as manure to other land that the same earth and dung would not produce applied separately; because there is generally no inert matter in this description of earth to be rendered soluble. 4977. Mixing dung, earth, and quick-lime together, can never be advisable; because quick-lime will render some of the most valuable parts of the dung insoluble. (See 2290.) It will depend on the nature of soil or earth, whether even quick-lime only should be mixed with it to form compost. If there be much inert vegetable matter in the earth, the quick-lime will prepare it for becoming food for the plants it may be applied to; but if rich earth be taken from arable fields, the bottoms of dung-pits, or, in fact, if any soil full of soluble matter be used, the quick-lime will decompose parts of this soluble matter, combine with other parts, and render the whole mass less nourishing as manure to plants or crops than before the quick-lime was applied to it. Making composts, then, of rich soil of this description, with dung or lime, mixed or separate, is evidently, to say no more of it, a waste of time and labour. The mixture of earths of this description with dung produces no alteration in the component parts of the earth, where there is no inert vegetable substances to be acted on; and the mixture of earth full of soluble matter with dung and quick-lime, in a mass together, has the worst effects, the quick-lime decomposing and uniting with the soluble matter of the earth, as well as that of the dung; thus rendering both, in every case, less efficient as manures, than if applied separately from the quick-lime, and even the quick-lime itself inferior as manure for certain soils, than if it had never been mixed with the dung and earth at all. (Farmer's Magazine, vol. xv. p. 351.) 4978. Mixing dung in a state of fermentation with peat, or forming what in Scotland are called Meadowbank middens (2241.), is a successful mode of increasing the quantity of putrescent manure. The peat, being dug and partially dried, may either be carted into the farm-yard and spread over the cattle court, there to remain till the whole is carted out and laid upon a dunghill to ferment; or it may be mixed up with the farmyard dung as carted out. If care be taken to watch the fermenting process, as the fire of a clay-kiln is watched, a few loads of dung may be made to rot many loads of peat. Adding lime to such composts does not in the least promote fermentation, while it renders the most valuable parts of the mass insoluble. Adding sand, ashes, or earth, will, by tending to consolidate the mass, considerably impede the progress of fermentation. 4979. Bone manure. Crushed bones were first introduced to Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, about 1800, by a bone merchant at Hull; and the effect has been, according to a writer in the British Farmer's Magazine, vol. iii. p. 207., to raise wild unenclosed sheepwalks from 2s. 6d. or 5s. to 10s. 6d. or 20s. an acre. The quantity at present laid on is 12 bushels per acre drilled in, in the form of dust, with turnip seed. The turnips are fed off with sheep, and succeeded by a corn crop, and by two crops of grass. It seems to be generally admitted, that bone dust is not beneficial on wet retentive soils, as continued moisture prevents decomposition; but in all descriptions of dry soils it never fails of success. On the poor soil, or chalk or lime-stone of the woolds of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, the turnip crops are said to equal those of any part of England; and the barley, though coarse, to produce a greater quantity of saccharine matter than even the brightest Norfolk samples. (Brit. Farm. Mag. vol. iii. p. 208.) 4980. The Doncaster Agricultural Association appointed a committee, in 1828, to make enquiries, and report the result of them, on the use and advantages of bones as a manure. The report is full of interest, and highly satisfactory as to the great value of this species. The following is a summary of deductions from the details collected: 1. That on dry sands, lime-stone, chalk, light loams, and peat, bones form a very highly valuable ma nure; they may be laid on grass with great good effect; and, on arable lands, they may be laid on fallow for turnips, or used for any of the subsequent crops. 2. That the best method of using them, when broad-cast, is previously to mix them up with earth, dung, or other manures, and let them lie to ferment. 3. That if used alone, they may either be drilled with the seed or sown broad-cast. 4. That bones which have undergone the process of fermentation are decidedly superior to those which have not done so. 5. That the quantity should be about 25 bushels of dust, or 40 bushels of large, increasing the quantity if the land be impoverished. 6. That upon clays and heavy loams, it does not yet appear that bones will answer. |