ticularly noticed, for a few inches of variation in taking that dimension will make a great difference in the total quantity. The quality may be inspected by removing with a fork a portion of it in several places, down to the bottom, where, if any part of it be inferior, it is generally placed. As long as fermentation lasts, the heap will continue to settle; and if newly turned over, one third, and sometimes one half, is deducted from the contents, to allow for the future diminution. The time that dung has been in the yard, and the materials of which it is composed, occasion much difference in that respect, which should be examined, and have due influence in fixing the price. At least two weeks should elapse before dung is measured, after it has been turned or thrown into a heap, as before that time it will not be settled down to a measurable state. Dung moved from the place where it has lain, requires time to ferment and rot, and most valuers refuse to measure it till

the expiry of two weeks after it has been moved; and the same rule is observed for sale manure in towns. In large valuations, where great accuracy is required, one person is usually employed to measure for both parties; but in small concerns it is generally understood the valuers themselves perform the measurement. The length, width, and depth are taken in feet and inches, and are multiplied into each other by duodecimals, -which mode is generally used, though, by converting the fractional parts into decimals, the process may be considerably simplified.

Suppose a dunghill is 54 feet 5 inches in length, 23 feet 9 inches in width, and 3 feet 2 inches in depth; how many solid yards does it contain? and what is the value at 4s. per yard?

Thus it appears that a dunghill of the above dimensions, and of a quality worth 4s. a yard, may be estimated at about 30%.

ON LIME.

Lime is measured by the chaldron, or by the dozen, by the quarter, and by the bushel.

A chaldron contains 4 quarters, or 52 solid feet; one dozen contains 48 feet; and one ton, 34 feet. It is most generally applied to land during summer fallowing, or in preparing for green crops, in quantities varying from 3 to 7 chaldrons per acre. On no point in modern agriculture does more vague uncertainty prevail, than on the use and application of lime. The most experienced and best informed agriculturists are yet in the dark as to any definite rule by which the utility of it can be secured on different soils and in different circumstances. No inference has yet been drawn, either from practice or science, to guide the farmer in applying it to the land; and it is yet used by fashion, by the caprice or individual judgment of the farmer, without any certain knowledge that a result will be produced. It has been thought that lime acts most beneficially on fresh soils which contain vegetable matter for decomposition, and that its effects are in a direct ratio to

the quality of the land. On light soils of all kinds, the benefit of lime is very doubtful; in such cases small doses often repeated are thought to be more beneficial than the application of large quantities. Lime contains in itself none of the elements of vegetation, but it is supposed to act as a stimulant or alterative on the substances contained in the soil, and on the manures applied. On these points, however, no certainty exists; but it is well known that lime has produced great effects in some cases, and that in others, though used by the most approved modes of application, no benefit whatever could be observed on any of the crops. On old arable lands, the effects are very doubtful; when used on such soils, it should be applied in a hot caustic state, along with a liberal allowance of putrescent manure, on fallows well wrought and cleaned. On inferior soils, a well-prepared compost of lime and earth will be found more useful, either on fallows or on