ld _half_ so
much. It is not so much the _cold_ as the _wet_ that is injurious to all
our stock in England.

132. _The Manure._ At the _beginning_ this must be provided by collections
made on the road; by the results of the residence in a cottage. Let any
man clean out _every place_ about his dwelling; rake and scrape and sweep
all into a heap; and he will find that he has a _great deal_. Earth of
almost any sort that has long lain on the surface, and has been trodden
on, is a species of manure. Every act that tends to neatness round a
dwelling, tends to the creating of a mass of manure. And I have very
seldom seen a cottage, with a plat of ground of a quarter of an acre
belonging to it, round about which I could not have collected a very large
heap of manure. Every thing of animal or vegetable substance that comes
into a house, must _go out of it again_, in one shape or another. The very
emptying of vessels of various kinds, on a heap of common earth, makes it
a heap of the best of manure. Thus goes on the work of _reproduction_; and
thus is verified the words of the Scripture, "_Flesh is grass_, and there
is _nothing new under the sun_." Thus far as to the _outset_. When you
have _got the cow_, there is no more care about manure; for, and
especially if you have a _pig_ also, you must have enough annually for _an
acre_ of ground. And let it be observed, that, after a time, it will be
unnecessary, and would be injurious, to manure _for every crop_; for that
would produce more stalk and green than substantial part; as it is well
known, that wheat plants, standing in ground too full of manure, will
yield very thick and long _straws_, but grains of little or no substance.
You ought to depend more on the spade and the hoe than on the dung-heap.
Nevertheless, the greatest care should be taken to preserve the manure;
because you will want _straw_, unless you be by the side of a common which
gives you rushes, grassy furze, or fern; and to get straw you must give a
part of your dung from the cow-stall and pig-sty. The best way to preserve
manure, is to have a pit of sufficient dimensions close behind the
cow-shed and pig-sty, for the run from these to go into, and from which
all runs of _rain water_ should be kept. Into this pit would go the
emptying of the shed and of the sty, and the produce of all sweepings and
cleanings round the house; and thus a large mass of manure would soon grow
together. Much too large a quantity for a