vbl. sb. [f. as prec. + DRESSING vbl. sb. 4 c.] The application of manure to the surface of the soil; concr. the manure or fertilizer so applied.
1764. Museum Rust., III. ii. 5. I bestow on it a top-dressing of wood ashes, soot,… or coal ashes.
1770–4. A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1803), I. 324. Pigeon dung, and rape-dust are considered as top-dressings.
1799. J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 311. When this powerful top-dressing … with sheep dung and urine has been completed.
1891. Garden, 27 Aug., 195/2. The top-dressing was put on early in spring before the plants began to grow.
b. transf. and fig.
1846. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett. to Carlyle, 7 Sept. Helen has been most diligent in my absence, and left nothing for me to do but a little ‘top-dressing.’
1884. J. Payn, Lit. Recoll., 35. Culture is more common, but very little comes of such ‘top dressing.’
1906. Edin. Rev., Jan., 196. Stimulated … by this top-dressing of the northern energy.
