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.

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.

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.

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.