Autumn application of fresh dung is found more efficient and econo mical in the long run than the ordinary wasteful management of the dung in heaps. Nevertheless, as manure is wanted tor the land at different seasons, it is of consequence that the dung from the yards and stables should be collected in such heaps, and managed so as to be in the exact state which is thought most advantageous at the time when it is carted on the land. To effect this some attention is required. The oldest portion must have its putrefaction retarded, mind the newest accelerated, to bring them both to the same state. This is easily done. If a certain thickness of dung is kept trodden down by the cattle, it will be a long time before it decomposes, nor will it do this without being turned over to expose the under portions to the air. If, on the contrary, it be carried out into a heap in a loose state, and occasionally turned over and moistened when it appears dry, it will heat and be ready in a very short time. When a sufficient quantity of short dung can be carried to a field prepared to receive it, and imme diately ploughed in with a shallow furrow, it will soon incorporate with the soil, and afford a succession of soluble matters, which will give regular nourishment to the plants. This in said on the supposition that the soil is in that state when it only requires replenishment, and has a texture favourable to the crops raised upon it. In poor sands or wet clays some modification in the state of the dung may be necessary.
In speaking of dung, we have not said anything of the different kinds of dung produced from different domestic animals. In some cases it may be advantageous to keep these separate : for instance, the dung of cows from that of horses • of cattle feeding on 'ail-cal:ea or grain, with or without turnips, and ;hose fed on straw or refuse hay only. Cow-dung, when in a fresh state, is thought bent for light soils, and harms-dung for cold heavy soils. But in general a mixture of the dung of nil the different animals kept on a farm with all the straw that can be afforded, will give a manure of en average strength, which may be used upon all kinds of land; with this difference, that for light soils it should be more decomposed than for the limey, and also ploughed in deeper ; for the air penetrates the light soil to a greater depth, and sooner acts on the manure. In heavy land the straw, if not so much decomposed, will form cavities to let in the air, and facilitate the din integration and tllth of the soil. All thin is well known to most farmers, but not always strictly attended to. It is better to manure slightly and often than to put an a large quantity at once, except for some particular crops, which require a rich earth and consume much manure, such as potatoes, mangold-wurzel, and Swedish turnips. Any
one who has raised the above-mentioned roots with the usual manuring, and drawn them off the land to be consumed elsewhere, will acknow ledge that his subsequent corn was far inferior to that which. had succeeded beans, tares, or clover, with the same quantity of manure.
One chief use of cattle an an arable farm, besides those which are necessary for the operations of husbandry, is to produce manure for the land. In present times of high priced butcher's meat, cattle will more than repay their food and the expense and risk attending their keep. But even though there were a moderate loss, they must be kept, when manure cannot be purchased ; and a portion of the land must be cultivated solely for the maintenance of cattle. In seine poor soils one-half of the land is not too much to produce manure sufficient for the other half. The loss, if any, on the cattle must be repaid by the increase of the corn crops. Manure is to a farm what daily food is to an animal ; it must be procured at any sacrifice. It is better to let land remain uncultivated in rough pasture, as was once the case with a great part of Britain, and is still the case with extensive tracts on the Continent, than to break it up without having the means of manuring it. A few crops may be obtained at first, but the land is deteriorated for ever after, and what has been obtained from it is dearly paid for.
Various means have been adopted to increase the quantity and efficacy of manure. The simplest is to increase the number of cattle, and husband their manure. It is evident that to let cattle run in loose pastures is a great loss, not only on account of the dung which is dropped, and more than lost, but also the urine, which contains the very essence of manure. In all countries wherestall.feeding is practised, the lands are highly manured, and the crops more certain and abun dant. With this system is connected a much more economical manage ment of the manure, either by keeping the litter and more solid parts of the dung separate from the urine and liquid parts, which are col lected in large reservoirs, and used In the liquid state, or by letting the animal remain loose in a pen or box, into which litter is daily put, so that it accumulates under the animal and absorbs the whale of the solid and liquid excrement. The liquid manure system is not gaining ground in farm practice, and it seems to be generally allowed that the ' best mode of saving it is in the litter of box-fed cattle ; the dung thus formed containing the whole of it, in a form to which the ordinary practice of the farm is already adapted. A word or two must never theless be said on the uses of liquid manure.