Classic Poem

*
In vacant corners, on the hamlet waste,
The ample dunghill's steaming heap be plac'd;
There many a month fermenting to remain,
Ere thy slow team disperse it o'er the plain.
*

The prudent farmer all manure provides,
The mire of roads, the mould of hedge-row sides;
For him their mud the stagnant ponds supply;
For him their soil, the stable and the sty.
*

For this the swain, on Kennet's winding shore,
Digs sulphurous peat along the sable moor;
For this, where ocean bounds the stormy strand,
They fetch dank sea-weed to the neighb'ring land.
*

Who barren heaths to tillage means to turn,
Must, ere he plough, the greensward pare and burn;
Where rise the smoking hillocks o'er the field,
The saline ashes useful compost yield.
*

Where sedge or rushes rise on spongy soils,
Or rampant moss th'impoverish'd herbage spoils,
Corrosive soot with lib'ral hand bestow;
Th'improving pasture soon its use will show.
*

Hertfordian swains on airy hills explore
The chalk's white vein, a fertilizing store;
This from deep pits in copious baskets drawn,
Amends alike the arable and lawn.