Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 1.djvu/629

 DUN

and ealily had. The Dung ufed in fields, befides its diffolving and dividing virtue is of great ufe in the warmth its ferment- in<* gives to the young plants of the coin in their weakeft ftate, and in the moft fevere feafons ; the lafting of this fer- ment is not eafily determined, becaufe the degrees of heat, are very difficult to be judged of when they become fmall. The farmers ufually underitand by the term Dung, not only the excrements of animals, with the litter, but every thing that will ferment with the earth ; fuch as the green ftalks and leaves of plants buried underground and the like. And every thing they add to it except fire.

The ufes of the Dungs of feveral animals are fufficiently proved every day. They are ufed to repair the decays of exhaufted and worn-out land, and to cure the feveral defects in different naturally bad foils ; the faults of which are as different, as the nature of the different Dungs ufed to improve them. Some land is too cold, moift and heavy, and the other too light and dry : and to improve and meliorate thefe, we have fome Dung hot and light, as fheep's, horfes's, pidgeons, &c. and others fat and cooling, as that of oxen, hogs, &c. There are two remarkable qualities in Dung ; the one is to produce a certain fenfible heat capable of bringing about great effects. The other is to fatten the foil, and render it more fertile. The firft of thefe is feldom found in any other Dung, but that of horfes and mules, while newly made and a little moift. The great effects of this, are feen in the kitchen gar- den, where it invigorates and gives a new life to every thing, fupplying the place of the fun ; and to this we owe in a man- ner, all the vegetable delicacies of the fpring. Befide this, horfe dung is the richeft of all improvements that can be had in any quantity for poor hungry lands ; yet when either too new, or when ufed alone, it is very prejudicial to fome lands ; and if fpread too thin on dry lands in fummer, it becomes of very little fervice, the fun foon exhaling all its richnefs, and leaving it little more than a heap of ftubble or dry thatch. And though too much of it can hardly be ufed in the kitchen garden among coliiflowers, cabbages, and the like, yet it is eafy to over dung land intended for corn, and gives rife by that means' to a very fatal quantity of weeds. Horfe dung is always belt, for cold lands, and cow dung for hot ones ; but being mixed together, they make a very good ma- nure for moft forts of foils, and for fome they are very pro- perly mixed with mud.

Sheep's dung and deer's dung differ very little in their quality, and are efteemed by fome, the beft of all dung for cold clays ; for this purpofe fome recommend the beating them to powder, and fpreading them thin over the autumn or fpring crops, at about four or five loads to an acre, after the fame manner, as aines, malt-duft, &c. are ftrewed. And in Flanders and fome other places, they houfe their fheeps at nights in places fpread with clean fand, laid about five or fix inches thick, which be- ing laid onfrelh every night, is cleared out once a week, and with the dung and urine of the fheep, is a very rich manure, and fells at a very confiderable price. It is principally ufed for ftubborn lands ; but Mr. Quinteney is of opinion, that it is the beft of all manure for land in general. Hog's dung is by many recommended as the fatteft and richeft of all dung, and is found on experience, to be better than any other kind for fruit trees, apples, pears and the like ; it is al- fo a very rich Dung for grafi, and is faid to do as much good in one load, as any other Dung whatever in two. The Dungs of pidgeons, hens and geefe are great improvers of meadow and corn land. That of pidgeons is unqueftionably the richeft that can be laid on corn land; but before it is ufed, it ought to be expofed for fome time out of the dove-houfe to the open air, to take off its fiery heat. It is in general very proper for cold day lands, but then it always fhould be well dried before it is laid on, becaufe it is apt to clod in the wet. It is beft alfo to mix it with fome dry earth to break its parts, that it may be fpread the more regularly; and it is in itfelf fo very rich and hot, as to bear fuch an admixture, without any great impoverifhing it. This Dung is alfo by fome recommend- ed as better than any other for afparagus, and ftrawberries, and for the propagation and culture of the tenderer garden flowers. The Dung of pidgeons is alfo particularly recommended by Mr. Gemil for thole trees, whofe leaves are apt to turn yel- low, if they grow in cold foils ; but for this ufe it fhould firft lie three years in a dunghil, and then be applied fparingly in autumn, laying about an inch thicknefs of it at the root of the tree, and fuffering it to remain there till the March fol- lowing.

The Dung of poultry being hot and full of falts, tends much to facilitate vegetation, and is abundantly quicker in its ope- ration than the Dung of animals, which feed on the leaves of plants. It is an obfcrvation of Sir Hugh Plat, that one load of grains will enrich ground, more than ten loads of com- mon Dung ; and it is eafy to infer from hence, that the fame grain muft needs be of greatly more virtue, when it has paf- fed through an animal body. Human Dung is alfo a great im- prover of all cold and four lands, but fucceeds beft when mixt with other Dungs or earths to give it a fermentation.

DUR

But for all ftubborn clayey foils, there is no manure fo soorl as he cleanfing of London ftreets ; the parts of tough land will be more expeditioufly feparated by this, than by any other compoft, and where it is to be had, it is of the greateft value both for field and garden land. Miller's Gard. Dia.

dxJe-DvNG. This is a very valuable manure, and as ufeful to the farmer as pidgeon's Dung, or that of any other fowl. The antients thought otherwife, and condemned it as prejudicial both to com and grafs, and many are of the fame opinion ftill ; but without any foundation in h&. Indeed where corn is nigh, and when grafs is ready to mow, thefe birds if they get among ,t will do great damage by treading it down with their broad feet, but their Dung inftead of being hurtful to the land, does it great fervice. Near Sutton in Nctinghammire, there is a barren p;ece of land given by the town, for a goofe- palture ; the geefe have been kept in it many years, and their Dung has fo enriched it, that it is one of the fruitfulleft pieces of ground, in the whole country. There has been an opi- nion alfo, that cattle feeding on grafs, where thefe creatures had much dunged the ground, would fuffer by it ; but it ap- pears from trial, that cattle are moft fond of all of thofe parts of paftures, where the geefe have dunged moft; and that they (utter no alteration by it, except the growing fat upon it. 1 he Dung of fowls in general is very enriching to land. Fig- trees, afparagus-beds, and ftrawberries, and many curious flow- ers fucceed better in earth manured with pidgeon's dung than in any other; and Fowley Ifland in Lancafhire, a place fo called from the abundance of wild fowl continually found on it, is fo enriched with their Dung, that it fattens fheep in a fur- prifing manner. Mertim's Husbandry.

DUNG-WORMS, a fpecies of fly-worms of a fhort and fome- what flat body found in great plenty among cow-dung in the months of September and OBober. Thefe have all their metamorphofes into the fly ftate, performed within a fliell of their own skin.

The worm in its firft transformation, and when it is become only a cafe to the enclofed nymph, is not diftinguifnable by the eye from another that is living, but by its wanting motion, and on feeling, it always appears ftiff and rigid in this ftate. The fly produced from this worm, is one of Reaumur's firft clafsof the two winged flies; it has a trunk with lips, and has no teeth ; it is of the clafs of thofe with the ellipfoid bodies, but its body is remarkably long for one of thofe, and is com- pofed «. fix rings : its head is very round, and nearly of a fpherical form, and is large in proportion to its body ; it has antenna; of the lenticular or battledore form ; its reticular eyes are of a deep chefnut brown, and its three fmall eyes are placed in the common manner : its corcelet is of a fine gilded green, and its back is not eafily to be defcribed as to colour, for it is changeable and feems compofed of a violet colour, and of a deeper and a paler copper colour. The under part or belly, is of a pale yellow, and the legs and balancers of a yet paler yel- low. Reaumur's Hift. Infect, v. 4. p. 350.

DUNLIN, in zoology, an Englifti name of a bird of the fnipe- kind, not diftinguifhed by the Latin authors by any particular name. It is of the fize of the fmaller fnipe, its beak is fur- rowed, its breaft is white, as is alfo its throat, and both are variegated with black fpots; the middle of the belly is black, variegated with white, and all the back and other upper parts of a redilhhue, variegated with fpots of black, and with a lit— le white ; its wings are of a bluifh brown, its legs long and black, and the hinder toe very fhort; the tail is variegated with brown reddifh and white. It is common in watery places in the northern counties of England, and picks up its food out of the mud. Ray's Ornitholog. p. 226.

DUNTER-Goo/}, a fpecies of the wild goofe found in Zetland. Phil. Tranf. N» 473. §. 8.

DUODENUM (Cycl.) — The defcription and draughts of the Duodenum, as given by moft anatomifts, appearing faulty, Mr. Monro has endeavoured to rectify their omiflions and miftakes in the Med. EfT. Edinb. vol. 4. art. 11. This inteftine is fometimes found fo large, as to be called ven* trieulus fuccenturiatus. Id. ibid.

Authors feldom take notice of the Duodenum as the feat or caufe of any particular difeafe ; but its diftenfion and prefiure on the many veffels to which it is contiguous, may difturb the functions of the animal ceconomy.

DUPLICATE Root, among botanifts, one compofed of two coats. See Root.

DUPLODES. See Gambezon, Cycl.

DURALE, or Duro, in the Italian mufic, fignifies hard, harm, or more properly fharp. This name is given to B natural, by reafon its found is fharp, when compared with B mol, or flat. Bref Dia. Muf. in voc.

DURANTA, in botany, the name of a genus of plants firft defcribed by Plujnier under the name caftorea. The cha- rafters of the genus are thefe. The cup is a one leaved erect perianthium divided into five acute fegments, containing the germen of the piftil, and remaining after the flower is fallen. The flower is monopetalous, and of the gaping kind. The tube is long and cylindric. The limb is divided into two lips ;

the