it is brought, is stated to be enormous. It is the accumulation of ages, and the sea-birds by whom it has been there deposited, are so numerous, that when they rise from their resting-places in the morning in flocks of miles in length, they are said to completely cloud the sun. Guano is the dung of these birds, and like pigeon's dung, it is a highly stimulating manure; but the circumstance of the sea-birds feeding on fish, may possibly impart to their dung a fertilizing quality beyond that of the dung obtained from the dovecot.

There are several new manures now artificially prepared, such as the sulphates and nitrates of soda and ammonia, and others having the names of their inventors given to them, and new ones are still occasionally added to the list; but it is unnecessary to notice any of these, until the test of experience has proved and established their efficacy.

Liquid Manure.-Urine has long been used as a manure by the farmers of Switzerland, Belgium, and Holland, who, with inferior means, are enabled, chiefly by the proper management of this article, to compete with the best of our farming establishments.

In the Flemish farm, all the cattle are kept and fed within doors, and the urine is collected into vaults of brickwork, which correspond in size with the extent of the farm and stock. Age and fermentation are found to add to the efficacy of this liquid as a manure, and the best constructed cisterns are divided by a partition, with a valve to admit the contents of the first space into the second, where it remains until ready for use. So sensible are the Flemings of the value of liquid manure, that after the farm-yard dung has ceased fermenting, they frequently throw water upon it, and the drainings and washings of the manure are alone carried to the field.

Cattle fed upon turnips, will each yield about twothirds of the weight of the turnips in urine, or about a

gallon for every twelve pounds; and it has been calculated, that the urine of three cows will enrich a quantity of earth sufficient to top-dress an acre of grass land. It has also been proved by experiment, that the urine of a moderate-sized person amounts on an aver age to about half a gallon per day, which, by a similar mode of application, would be sufficient to manure half an acre of ground every year.

Urine of every kind, when properly diluted with water, is highly nourishing for plants. Sir Humphry Davy considered that "it contains the essential elements of vegetables in a state of solution." Any method by which liquid manure can be saved deserves attention, and the careful landlord will urge and assist his tenantry in the construction of tanks and cisterns for the purpose.

The water in which flax is steeped becomes rich in fertilizing qualities, and should never be allowed to run to waste; but it ought to be carefully preserved, and applied to the land either in its liquid state, or else by mixing it with earth, peat, or other compost, which would perhaps be generally found the best mode of applying it. The fertilizing effects of flax-water are shown by the growth and colour of the grass where flax has been spread to dry. We have seen a most luxuriant crop of oats upon land manured with flaxwater. If this valuable manure were always carefully preserved, and its application properly attended to, the complaint that a flax crop impoverishes the soil would not be made.

Liquid manure is no less valuable for the garden than the field. The Chinese apply liquid manure to their fruit-trees, as contributing much to their growth and vigour; and in that country it is sold in the streets, for the purposes of garden culture, in quantities so small as an English pint.

Liquid manure is highly beneficial to strawberries, and to gooseberry and currant trees, when applied immediately before the breaking of the bud in spring. It makes potatoes, whether early or late, large in size and very productive. The most efficacious time for ap

plying it is in the drills, immediately before or after the brairding of the plants. The young shoots rapidly imbibe the nourishment, which makes the stems and tubers very luxuriant, and they require no other manure. To the cabbage and colewort tribe it is equally valuable. We wish earnestly to impress upon every cultivator of the soil, that it is very important for his own interest, to collect this valuable description of manure by every means in his power.

The night-soil of Paris is now formed into cakes, with a mixture of lime and ashes, and in this shape is exported to Flanders and the Low Countries; where, after being dissolved and converted into a liquid manure, it is extensively used, and is found to be particularly valuable as a top-dressing for grass lands. If the nightsoil and urine now permitted to run to waste in London and our great towns, were collected and applied to the renovation of the soil, what an inexhaustible supply of fertilizing matter of the most valuable description would thereby become available for the purposes of agriculture! and there seems to be no good reason why this should not be done.

SPADE-DIGGING AND TRENCHING.

With certain kinds of soil, and in certain situations and circumstances, the spade may be profitably employed as an instrument of tillage: it may also be used with advantage for breaking in and reclaiming rough waste lands: but in all cases where the extent of cultivation is considerable, the plough must be resorted to.

In this variable climate, the process of tillage requires, in most cases, to be expeditious; and horse labour with the plough, by which a large amount of work may be done rapidly, is therefore indispensable, as well on this account, as with reference to its superior economy. To turn over an acre per day, is considered fair work for a pair of horses with the plough; but to dig the same quantity of land with the spade, would oc

cupy a man from fifteen to twenty days. Twenty men might, it is true, do the same quantity of work in one day; but where are the requisite number of labourers to be found for doing this, when wanted?-and if they could be found at that particular time, how are they to be occupied in those periods of the year when such digging is not required?

The spade is therefore, as an instrument of tillage, chiefly available upon small farms, cottage farms as they are termed, and which are too small to afford labour for a pair of horses. It may also be used occasionally as an aid to ordinary tillage, where there is a redundancy of manual labour; in which case, if the land be a deep sandy loam, it will prove advantageous to trench it with the spade, to bury the exhausted top-soil, and bring the lower stratum of fresh soil to the surface. This practice prevails on the small farms and light soils of Flanders, where manual labour is cheap, and where green crops are raised to a great extent for the feeding of cattle. In wet seasons, moreover, you may often dig when you cannot plough; and in turning up stiff clay lands in autumn, and exposing the soil to the weather, the spade may sometimes be useful.

By double-digging or trenching the land, foul and exhausted soil is thrown to the bottom, and clean fresh soil brought to the surface. In garden-grounds this may be done with great advantage, the depth and quality of the active soil, being thereby greatly improved. In planting trees, deep trenching is the most certain mode of forwarding their growth. When planted on grass land, unless it be trenched, and the sward turned down, it often happens that the young tree will not strike root or flourish, and this applies to fruit as well as forest trees.

PLOUGHING.

The best ploughing is that which comes nearest to trenching, that is, which exposes the greatest quantity

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of fresh soil; and the best plough is that which most effectually accomplishes this object, and is most easily drawn. As to the depth, four inches may be consi→ dered light, six inches middling, and nine inches deep ploughing.

In very shallow ploughing, no fresh mould is brought to the surface, which is an important consideration; for the manure naturally filters downwards, and it is necessary to bring it again into action, by mixing the under with the upper soil. This can only be done by deep ploughing, by which the depth of active soil is increased, at the same time that fresh unexhausted soil is brought into operation.

The use of the subsoil-plough is highly valuable in this respect, for although it does not actually turn up the inferior stratum, it loosens and lightens it, and prepares it for being acted upon by the atmosphere and fitted for the sustentation of vegetable life. After subsoiling, therefore, there can be no doubt that deepploughing may be adopted with advantage; and it is believed that it will rarely, if ever, prove otherwise than advantageous, whether the subsoil-plough has been used or not.

Plough the land for green crops as deep as you can, that fresh soil may be exposed, and the surface deepened. Leave a head ridge all round the field, and plough it carefully, leaving no edges untouched, as a nursery for weeds. However winding the head ridge may be, if the others be straight, your field will have a neat and workmanlike appearance. If the plough cannot be worked into the corners, let them be dug with the spade, so that not a foot of land be left unturned.

The stubbles are often not ploughed until the spring, for the sake of allowing the cattle to pick up a few scanty morsels during winter. This is contrary to all sound principles of agriculture; for nothing fertilizes land more than exposure to sun and air, and the frosts of winter have also a very beneficial effect upon the soil. As soon as the crops are off, therefore, you ought to plough down the stubble, in preparation for the next

crop.