In this state, it is well calculated for cold and tenacious soils, as well as for loams of every description, and when laid on at the rate of 12 to 16 tons per acre, according to the strength of the land, it has been known to produce heavy crops for four or five years successively. It has also been applied, in its unprepared state, as a top-dressing to sour coarse meadow, with very good effect; and after having lain three or four months on the field, and having been frequently moved about with the brush harrow, it has then been raked up, and laid upon the dung-heap. There can, however, be little doubt that much of its valuable properties must have been thus exhausted by the atmosphere; which, if it had been made up in the first instance into a compost, would have been preserved. The clippings, are the parings and scrapings of the skins, which, although generally used in the manufacture of glue, have been in many instances used as manure. When ploughed in upon a summer fallow for wheat, these clippings have been found highly serviceable to deep loamy land, and to strong soils which are not too wet, for they not only produce a full clean grain, with a bright strong straw, but the bulk of the crop is also greatly increased. Care should however be taken to cover them well with the soil; for, if left near the surface, the putrid effluvia, which they soon emit, attract the crows in swarms, and great quantities are thus scratched out of the ground. From 30 to 40 bushels is the quantity usually applied to an acre; but the price varies in different places from 4d. to 9d. per bushel, heaped loose. TANNERS' BARK. The refuse of the tanneries consists partly of the same substances as fellmongers' poake; but when the bark is used alone, it is chiefly employed in gardens, as a covering for the beds of pineries, and in that state has been found quite ineffectual as manure. It has, however, in some instances, been made up as a compost with lime, chalk, earth, and dung, and laid upon strong land with considerable advantage. It might, indeed, be supposed that the whole value of the mixture consisted in the latter article; but, according to a long account of a series of experiments made by Mr. Malcolm, and recorded in his Compendium of Modern Husbandry *, the bark would appear, by the comparative trials, to have had much good effect in the composition. When mixed with lime, great care is however requisite to prevent it from catching fire during its fermentation, for which purpose it should be so completely covered with earth as wholly to exclude the air. It will, in some cases, particularly if much mixed with earth, take three or four months to ferment; when it should be turned over at least once; which further fermentation and cooling will probably require a couple of months longer before it can be in a fit state to be laid upon the land. The following were the different modes employed by Mr. M. in the preparation of these composts: 1stly. To four waggon-loads of fresh small bark, an equal quantity of long horse-dung was added, and let to lie for three weeks; during the whole of which time, the moisture in the bark kept the dung fermenting. 2ndly. To the same quantity of bark and dung, 20 bushels of quicklime were added. In about four or five days, the dung, having fermented, caused the lime to slake, and set the whole on fire, by which the dung was consumed; but the tan, though altered in colour, was not much injured. * Vol. ii. p. 93. 3rdly. To the same quantity of bark, dung, and lime, 40 bushels of earth were added, as a cover: the fermentation of the heap soon made it sink; but as the air was not entirely kept out, it took fire in one place, and was partially burned. 4thly. To the same quantity of bark and dung, 20 bushels of chalk were added: the bark and dung fermented strongly, and the chalk fell to pieces like powder. 5thly. To the same quantities of bark, dung, and chalk, 40 bushels of fresh maiden earth were added. When the sensible fermentation had ceased, the heaps were all turned over and well mixed, at three different periods, at about a month's distance between each; after which, they were laid in different lots upon a coarse and strong loam, rather shallow, upon a clay, with a lower stratum of chalk. The manure was then partly ploughed in, and partly top-dressed, and spit-dung, soot, and cinder-ashes, were also separately applied in a similar manner, as comparative experiments. The land was sown with turnips, followed by barley and clover, the whole management of which is more minutely detailed than we have space to transcribe; but the result was, that the compost of bark, dung, lime, and earth, was throughout the best. It also appears, that the top-dressings did not succeed so well as the manure that was ploughed in. It thus seems that rotten bark may be advantageously mixed in a compost with lime and earth; and as in many cases it is such an incumbrance to the tanners, that they are glad to get it taken off their premises without charge, it may be worth the while of farmers in their neighbourhood to try its effects. Mr. Malcolm, however, has not stated the rate at which it was applied to his land; nor does he express any decisive opinion respecting the quantity in which it should be employed: but we imagine it may be properly made to depend upon the quantity of lime which may be safely used upon the soil, for we apprehend that an excess of the bark will not occasion injury. WOOLLEN RAGS AND FURRIERS' CLIPPINGS. Rags are sometimes used in considerable quantities upon light chalks and gravelly soils, to which their retention of wet renders them particularly applicable, and they continue to act so long as they remain unrotted in the ground. They require to be cut into pieces, and are sometimes spread upon clover-leys and ploughed in for wheat when sown upon one ploughing. Their chief use is, however, to lay them in hop grounds, for as they act in the nature of a sponge, they preserve the plantations in a constant state of moisture in the dry seasons, when in land which has been manured with dung the hops have failed; but in rainy seasons they, on the contrary, have been known to do injury by creating mould. The usual method of thus applying them is, to open the hills and place the rags round the roots, a little below the surface, and immediately to cover them with mould: a ton of rags being the usual quantity to an acre. They are also frequently employed as top-dressings for clover-leys, and are sometimes ploughed into the land before winter, when intended for turnips; for, if applied at the time of sowing, they will not work for that crop t. If used for other crops, they should be spread before the last ploughing, and laid well into the soil, or otherwise they are apt to be raked out by the harrows. We have also heard of their being steeped in a reservoir of urine, kept in the farm-yard, and applied to barley and clover with very good effect. * Surveys of Kent, p. 161; of Sussex, 219. They are usually sold by the ton, at various prices, from 77. to 10., and, for common purposes, are generally laid upon the land at the rate of 6 to 8 cwt. per acre; but no rule is necessary to be followed in their application, as an increased quantity can do no other harm than dipping a little deeper into the farmer's pocket. Furriers refuse, or clippings, are employed with the same intent as woollen rags, and applied to soils of the same description; but they are usually sold by the quarter, which commonly contains as much as two fivebushel sacks will hold when closely pressed. The price is said to be about 14s. to 16s. per quarter, and the quantity usually applied 24 to 30 bushels per acre; but they are little used, and the information respecting them is not to be strictly relied upon. SUGAR-BAKERS' SCUM is the skimmings of the sugar during the operation of refining, in which process it is boiled with a portion of bullock's blood and lime-water. The albumen contained in the blood coagulates on the application of heat, and rises to the top of the pan, carrying with it the impurities contained in the solution which is thus clarified, and the dregs are used as manure. This refuse is of a very caustic nature, and is therefore not well adapted to light soils; nor, indeed, has it been found to answer upon arable land of any description; but it has very considerably enriched meadows of cold retentive clay, and is therefore used to some extent in the vicinity of the great seaports which trade with the West Indies. The mode of applying it is to break the lumps, and to spread it evenly and thinly, if laid on in its raw state; but a better method is to mix two or three cart-loads of road sand with one of scum, and to apply the mixture, without waiting for its fermentation, at the rate of about 30 loads per acre; a few more or less, according to the state of the land. It may be had at most sugar-bakers at about four or five shillings the cart-load, containing at least a ton. CHAPTER XXV. MISCELLANEOUS MANURES (continued.)-CLAY-SAND-POND, RIVER, AND SEA MUD. CLAY. SUCH frequent allusion has been already made to the expediency of mixing together different soils of a marked character, as a means of ameliorating their distinct qualities, that it is unnecessary to repeat that recommendation, whenever it can be carried into effect with moderate expense. This advantage is in no case more fully evinced than by laying clay upon sand lands, whether they be of the red, rich, or more valuable descriptions, or those of an inferior quality which usually contain a portion of moor and white sand. On the former, about 50 tons per acre will effect a vast improvement; but the latter are seldom brought into a fertile state with less than treble that quantity. The most eligible period to apply it is in the autumn or early part of the winter, when the land is in grass, and intended to be broken up for a crop of corn; or otherwise at the same period, when intended for fallow. The frost, rain, and drying winds will then cause the * Malcolm's Survey of Surrey, &c, vol. ii, p. 90. lumps of clay, however large, to open, and by repeated slight harrowing, to divide and intimately cover the surface before the land is ploughed,-a circumstance of little trouble if attended to at the proper season, though, if not so reduced before the land is ploughed, large pieces of clay will be found to have been preserved from the atmospheric influence, and consequently unbroken and unprofitable many years afterwards. It is more profitable to repeat the operation after an interval of a few years, rather than to lay on an immense quantity at once, as by this means the clay gets more thoroughly incorporated with the sand; and it will be obvious that the first ploughing ought not to be to the full depth, lest the clay be lost. It is, however, scarcely practicable to lay clay, in its natural state, upon sand, both because of the great labour of digging, and afterwards preparing it with the requisite degree of care for mixture. If not rendered so fine as to be perfectly incorporated with the sand, its tendency to sink through light land gradually brings it to the bottom, and renders it afterwards useless, if not injurious, by forming a retentive subsoil. SAND is, however, not exposed to the same objections, for it is dug with less labour, and does not require any further trouble in its preparation. Its application as an alterative for stiff clay land is of the greatest advantage; for its intermixture with the soil-which is effected by various means-has a tendency to lighten the land, and to bring it to that loamy state which is the most favourable to the purposes of vegetation. In this respect, its action is the counterpart to that of marl, as applied to light sandy ground; for in both cases it is the interest of the farmer to bring his land into that state which is the most likely to be productive. Marl, by stiffening it, produces this effect in the one instance; and sand, by loosening it, in the other. Until about half a century ago, this plan was very little known as an improvement to the soil, when a spirited agriculturist in Cheshire began to use considerable quantities; sometimes mixing it with dung, and sometimes laying it raw on his grass-lands. The success which invariably attended these experiments, at length induced several farmers in his neighbourhood to follow his example, and the practice has since been very generally adopted in many of the principal dairy-farms in the middle of the county: deep beds of sand being there frequently met with under the clay, which predominates as the superficial stratum of the soil. The mode of employing it is thus described by a landowner who has employed it extensively with the greatest advantage:— When there is a piece of strong clay-land in tillage, and the farmer has an opportunity of covering it over with sand, about twice as thick as in a common set of manure, the soil will be pulverized and opened by this means-will give better crops when in tillage, and when laid down will produce a finer herbage, less liable to be parched in dry, or trod down in wet seasons. It is excellent management in the farmer, before he ties up his cattle for the winter, to lay a coat of sand, at least a foot in thickness, where he intends to throw his dung out of the cow-houses. The dung should be repeatedly levelled on the sand, and a second coat of the latter laid on towards the end of February; upon which should be put the remainder of the dung procured before the cattle go to grass. As soon after this time as possible, the compost should be either turned and well mixed where it lies, or filled into the dung-carts, and taken away to some situation near the land on which it is intended to use it. Here it should be laid in a heap of at least two yards in thickness; and after remaining two or three months in this state, it is in excellent condition for putting on the land.' * This, however, only alludes to its employment as a compost; but if laid in its natural state, either as a top-dressing upon meadow of a stiff nature, or slightly ploughed in upon heavy arable land, it will be found to effect a permanent improvement in the soil. It must, in the latter case, however, be laid on in very large quantities; perhaps not less than two to three hundred cart-loads, or cubic yards. This, of course, cannot be accomplished with prudence, unless the sand lies either under the clay, or in the immediate vicinity of the farm; and even in that case, the expense of cartage, if calculated at its cost in money, would appear too serious to admit of much chance of profitable remuneration. Many circumstances are, however, continually occurring on every farm to prevent the constant occupation of the teams: on those days they may be invariably employed in the cartage of the sand, without any charge except that of day-labourers to dig; and if it cannot be immediately spread upon the land, it may be laid up on the headlands of the field to which it is intended to be applied. MUD. The mud from ponds, when they are cleaned out, has always been an object of attention to farmers, so far as regards its collection; but it must be presumed that its different properties, and consequently the most judicious mode of its application to the land, are either but little understood, or neglected; for some cart it directly upon the ground, and plough it in either for turnips, or for corn-crops; others spread it upon old leys; and many lay it out in thin heaps to dry, after which they mix it with lime, chalk, or dung. Upon this it has been remarked by an eminent agriculturist, that in reasoning with the farmers upon the cause or principle by which they are guided in those different proceedings, the reply is generally, "that it has been their practice to do so--that it has answered very well-and that they know of no better mode of treating it." From which we are necessarily led to conclude, that upon the same, or nearly the same sort of soil, these different practices cannot be right. It therefore becomes necessary to consider what is the usual composition of the sediment in ponds, then to point out, as correctly as we are able, the best way of preparing it for use-the soils to which it should be applied—and the crops which ought to succeed such application ‡.' Upon this it may be observed, that ponds, being usually placed at the lower part of the fields, receive after every hard rain a part of the soil, as well as of the substances with which they have been manured. If the ponds be large and deep, they may also acquire much decayed vegetable matter, arising from the aquatic plants with which such pools usually abound; and if near to the yards at which cattle are commonly watered, they must likewise receive a portion of their dung: such mud is, therefore, particularly applicable to light soils, both as containing nutritive matter, and adding to the staple and consistency of the land. If, on the contrary, the ponds contain springs, the sediment taken from them will be found unfit * Holland's Survey of Cheshire, p. 231. It has been laid on a large extent of drained moss, in Dumfriesshire, at the rate of a single-horse cart-load to every square yard of surface, though the land was in such a soft state that the sand could only be carted by horses with wooden clogs or pattens on their hind feet. The expense must, therefore,have been enormous; yet the improvement in the land seems to have reimbursed the proprietor.-See Dr. Singer's Survey, p. 309. Malcolm's Comp. of Mod, Husb., vol. ii. p. 116. |