_Of DUNG._
ALL Sorts of Dung and Compost contain some Matter, which, when mixt
with the Soil, ferments therein; and by such Ferment dissolves,
crumbles, and divides the Earth very much: This is the chief, and
almost only Use of Dung: For, as to the pure earthy Part, the Quantity
is so very small, that, after a perfect Putrefaction, it appears to
bear a most inconsiderable Proportion to the Soil it is design’d to
manure: and therefore, in that respect, is next to nothing.
Its fermenting Quality is chiefly owing to the Salts wherewith it
abounds; but a very little of this Salt applied alone to a few Roots
of almost any Plant, will (as, in my Mint Experiments, it is evident
common Salt does) kill it.
This proves, that its Use is not to nourish, but to dissolve; _i. e._
Divide the terrestrial Matter, which affords Nutriment to the Mouths of
Vegetable Roots.
It is, I suppose, upon the Account of the acrimonious fiery Nature
of these Salts, that the Florists have banish’d Dung from their
Flower-Gardens.
And there is, I’m sure, much more Reason to prohibit the Use of Dung in
the Kitchen-Garden, on Account of the ill Taste it gives to esculent
Roots and Plants, especially such Dung as is made in great Towns.
’Tis a Wonder how delicate Palates can dispense with eating their own
and their Beasts Ordure, but a little more putrefied and evaporated;
together with all Sorts of Filth and Nastiness, a Tincture of which
those Roots must unavoidably receive, that grow amongst it.
Indeed I do not admire, that learned Palates, accustom’d to the _Goût_
of _Silphium_, _Garlick_, _la Chair venee_, and mortify’d Venison,
equalling the Stench and Rankness of this Sort of City-Muck, should
relish and approve of Plants that are fed and fatted by its immediate
Contact.
People who are so vulgarly nice, as to nauseate these modish Dainties,
and whose squeamish Stomachs even abhor to receive the Food of Nobles,
so little different from that wherewith they regale their richest
Gardens, say that even the very Water, wherein a rich Garden Cabbage
is boil’d, stinks; but that the Water, wherein a Cabbage from a poor
undung’d Field is boil’d, has no Manner of unpleasant Savour; and that
a Carrot, bred in a Dunghill, has none of that sweet Relish, which a
Field-Carrot affords.
There is a like Difference in all Roots, nourish’d with such different
Diet.
Dung not only spoils the fine Flavour of these our Eatables, but
inquinates good Liquor. The dung’d Vineyards in _Languedoc_ produce
nauseous Wine; from whence there is a Proverb in that Country, That
poor People’s Wine is best, because they carry no Dung to their
Vineyards.
Dung is observ’d to give great Encouragement to the Production of
Worms; and Carrots in the Garden are much worm-eaten, when those in the
Field are free from Worms.
Dung is the Putrefaction of Earth, after it has been alter’d by
Vegetable or Animal Vessels. But if Dung be thoroughly ventilated and
putrefy’d before it be spread on the Field (as I think all the Authors
I have read direct) so much of its Salts will be spent in fermenting
the Dung itself, that little of them will remain to ferment the Soil;
and the Farmer who might dung One Acre in Twenty, by laying on his Dung
whilst fully replete with vigorous Salts, may (if he follows these
Writers Advice to a Nicety) be forced to content himself with dunging
one Acre in an Hundred.
This indeed is good Advice for Gardeners, for making their Stuff more
palatable and wholesome; but would ruin the Farmer who could have no
more Dung than what he could make upon his Arable Farm.
For every Sort of Dung, the longer Time it ferments without the Ground,
the lesser Time it has to ferment in it, and the weaker its Ferment
will be.
The Reason given for this great Diminution of Dung is, that the Seeds
of Weeds may be rotted, and lose their vegetating Faculty; but this I
am certain of by Demonstration, that let a Dunghil remain Three Years
unmov’d, though its Bulk be vastly diminish’d in that Time, and its
best Quality lost, Charlock-seed will remain found in it, and stock
the Land whereon it is laid: For that Ferment which is sufficient to
consume the Virtue of the stercoreous Salts, is not sufficient to
destroy the vegative Virtue of Charlock-seeds, nor (I believe) of many
other Sorts of Weeds.
The very Effluvia of animal Bodies, sent off by Perspiration, are so
noxious as to kill the Animal that emits them, if confin’d to receive
them back in great Quantity, by breathing in an Air replete with them;
which appears from the soon dying of an Animal shut up in a Receiver
full of Air. Yet this seems to be the most harmless of all sorts of
animal Excrements the Air can be infected with. How noxious then must
be the more fetid Steams of Ordure!
If a Catalogue were publish’d of all Instances from Charnel-houses (or
Cœmeteries) and of the pestiferous Effects, which have happen’d from
the Putrefaction of dead Bodies, after great Battles, even in the open
Air, no body, I believe, would have a good Opinion of the Wholsomeness
of Animal Dung; for if a great Quantity do so infect the Air, ’tis
likely a less may infect it in proportion to that less Quantity.
In great Cities the Air is full of these Effluvia, which in hot Climes
often produce the Pestilence; and in cold Climes People are generally
observ’d to live a less time, and less healthfully, in Cities, than
in the Country; to which Difference, ’tis likely, that the eating
unwholsome Gardenage may contribute.
This Dung is a fitter Food for venomous Creatures[19] than for edible
Plants; and ’tis (no doubt) upon Account of this, that dung’d Gardens
are so much frequented by Toads, which are seldom or never seen in the
open undung’d Fields.
[19] Mr. _Evelyn_ says, that Dung is the Nurse of Vermin.
What can we say then to the Salubrity of those Roots themselves, bred
up and fatten’d among these Toads and Corruption? The Leaves indeed are
only discharging some of the Filth, when we eat them; but the Roots
have that unsavoury infected Food in their very Mouths, when we take
them for our Nourishment.
But tho’ _Dung_ be, upon these and other Accounts, injurious to the
Garden, yet a considerable Quantity of it is so necessary to most
Corn-fields, that without it little Good can be done by the old
Husbandry.
_Dung_ is not injurious to the Fields[20] being there in less
Proportion: And the Produce of Corn is the Grain. When the Leaves have
done their utmost to purify the Sap, the most refin’d Part is secern’d
to be yet further elaborated by peculiar Organs; then, by the Vessels
of the Blossoms, ’tis become double-refin’d, for the Nourishment of the
Grain; which is therefore more pure from Dung, and more wholsome, than
any other Part of the Plant that bears it.
[20] Such Plants as _Cabbages_, _Turneps_, _Carrots_, and _Potatoes_,
when they are designed only for fatting of Cattle, will not be
injured by Dung, Tillage, and Hoeing all together, which will make
the Crops the greater, and the Cattle will like them never the worse.
And common Tillage alone is not sufficient for many Sorts of Corn,
especially Wheat, which is the King of Grains.
Very few Fields can have the Conveniency of a sufficient Supply of
Dung, to enable them to produce half the Wheat those will do near
Cities, where they have Plenty of it.
The Crop of 20 Acres will scarce make Dung sufficient for one Acre, in
the common Way of laying it on.
The Action of the Dung’s Ferment affords a Warmth[21] to the
Infant-plants, in their most tender State, and the most rigorous Season.
[21] But though Dung in fermenting may have a little Warmth, yet
it may sometimes, by letting more Water enter its Hollowness, be
in a Frost much colder than undung’d pulverized Earth; for I have
seen Wheat-plants in the Winter die in the very Spits of Dung, when
undung’d drill’d Wheat, adjoining to it, planted at the same Time,
has flourish’d all the same Winter; and I could, not find any other
Reason for this, but the Hollowness of the Dung; and yet it seemed to
be well rotted.
But ’tis hard to know how long the Warmth of this Ferment lasteth, by
reason of the great Difficulty to distinguish the very least Degree of
Heat from the very least Degree of Cold.
Under the Name of Dung we may also understand whatever ferments with
the Earth (except Fire); such as green Vegetables cover’d in the
Ground, _&c._
As to the Difference of the Quantity of artificial Pasture made by
_Dung_ without Tillage, and that made by Tillage without _Dung_; the
latter is many Times greater, of which I had the following Proof. An
unplow’d Land, wherein a Dunghil had lain for two or three Years, and
being taken away, was planted with _Turneps_; at the same time a till’d
Land, contiguous thereto, was drill’d with _Turneps_, and Horse-ho’d;
the other, being Hand-ho’d, prospered best at the first; but at last
did not amount to the Fifth Part of the Till’d and Horse-ho’d, in
Bigness, nor in Crop. The Benefit of the Dung and Hand-hoe was so
inconsiderable, in comparison of the Plough and Hoe-plough; the little
Quantity of artificial Pasture raised to the other, was only near the
Surface, and did not reach deep enough to maintain the _Turneps_,
till they arrived at the Fifth Part of the Growth of those, whose
artificial Pasture reach’d to the Bottom of the Staple of the Land.
A like Proof is; that several Lands of _Turneps_, drill’d on the Level,
at three Foot Rows, plow’d, and doubly dung’d, and also Horse-ho’d,
did not produce near so good a Crop of _Turneps_, as Six Foot Ridges
adjoining, Horse-ho’d, tho’ no Dung had been laid thereon for many
Years: There was no other Difference, than that the three Foot Rows did
not admit the Hoe-plough to raise half the artificial Pasture, as the
Six Foot Rows did. The Dung plow’d into the narrow Intervals, before
drilling, could operate no further, with any great Effect, than the
Hoe-plough could turn it up, and help in its Pulveration.
_Dung_, without Tillage, can do very little; with some Tillage doth
something; with much Tillage pulverizes the Soil in less Time, than
Tillage alone can do; but the Tillage alone, with more Time, can
pulverize as well: This the Experiments of _artificially_ pulverizing
of the poorest Land, as they are related by Mr. _Evelyn_, fully prove.
And these Experiments are the more to be depended on, as they are made
both in _England_ and _Holland_ by Persons of known Integrity.
This Truth is also further confirmed by those Authors who have found,
that High-way Dust alone is a Manure preferable to Dung: And all these
Pulverations being made by Attrition or Contusion, why should not our
Instruments of Pulveration, in Time, reduce a sufficient Part of the
Staple of a dry friable Soil, to a Dust equal to that of a Highway?
The common Proportion of Dung used in the Field pulverizes only a
small Part of the Staple: but how long a time may be required for our
Instruments to pulverize an equal Part, it depending much upon the
Weather, and the Degree of Friability of the Soil, is uncertain.
I have seen surprising Effects from Ground, after being kept
unexhausted, by plowing with common Ploughs for Two whole Years
running: And I am confident, that the Expence of this extraordinary
Tillage and Fallow will not, in many Places, amount to above half the
Expence of a dressing with Dung; and if the Land be all the Time kept
in our Sort of little Ridges of the Size most proper for that Purpose,
the Expence of plowing will be diminished one half; besides the
Advantage the Earth of such Ridges hath, of being friable in Weather
which is too moist for plowing the same Land on the Level.
I have made many Trials of fine _Dung_ on the Rows; and,
notwithstanding the Benefit of it, I have, for these several Years last
past, left it off, finding that a little more Hoeing will supply it at
a much less Expence, than that of so small a Quantity of Manure, and of
the Hands necessary to lay it on, and of the Carriage.