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THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



pings of old Apple trees are especially 

 commendable, and every lover of a 

 garden should, at pruning time, see 

 that every suitable stick of waste tim- 

 ber is put aside for such a purpose — 

 if not for his own use, then for that of 

 somebody else who may need it. The 



hatchet makes short work with many 

 a goodly pile of picturesque timber 

 that would be inestimable for rustic 

 work, but as it is generally somebody's 

 perquisite it goes directly to the fire. — 

 Shirley Hibberd, in the " Cottage 

 Gardener." 



PROFITABLE GARDENING. 



CHAPTER V. MANURES AND COMPOSTS. 



I have already shown you how to get 

 guano from the atmosphere, but 5 7 ou 

 must not be content with that, but use 

 liberal manuring. If the land is con- 

 stantly well stirred and well cropped, 

 you can hardly put too much on, so 

 that your anxiety should be to increase 

 your resources in this way. Be avari- 

 cious for manure, and always keep 

 j'our mind in firm conviction that 

 your ground is in an impoverished 

 state. If 5 T ou were to see what 

 quantities of rich stuff they put on the 

 grounds at Fulham, and the few other 

 choice spots near London that show 

 the finest market gardening in the 

 world, you would think it actual 

 waste until you also saw the grower's 

 books, and found, that from a single 

 acre of ground, he would realize from 

 a hundred and fifty to three hundred 

 pounds per annum for produce, and 

 that at market price, too. 



Now, you know, of course, that 

 stable dung is one of the best manures 

 that can be had, and ) r our only regret 

 is, that you can't get as much as you 

 should iike. Now, let me ask you if 

 you do not allow the daily waste of 

 the most fertilizing substances that can 

 be had, equal in every way to stable 

 dung, and that to preserve would cast 

 you nothing ? Men who can't see an 

 inch before their noses, call it " theory," 

 when you tell them that ammonia, 

 potash, soda, salt, and other chemical 

 principles are essential to the fertiliza- 

 tion of the soil, but the gardener, who 

 is not dead set against improvement, 

 calls it "practice" to lay his hands on 

 every possible source of such ingre- 

 dients, and it is only necessary to 

 remember, that whatever will putrify 

 and become obnoxious if exposed to 

 the air, loses all its obnoxious qualities 



the moment it is mixed with the soil, 

 which is a natural deodorizer, and all 

 such substances are powerful in stimu- 

 lating and feeding vegetable growth. 

 You have, therefore, one source of the 

 very best manure in the household, 

 and you must treasure eveiy scrap of 

 stinking rubbish, solid and liquid, and 

 not waste so much as a dead cabbage 

 leaf. 



Let us consider the solid manures 

 first. The dung of animals, and, 

 especially, of the horse, cow, pig, sheep, 

 and goat, is highly prized. When well 

 decayed, they ameliorate the soil, im- 

 prove its texture, and enable a crop to 

 withstand drought for a longer time 

 than in soils that have not been 

 manured. All the cabbage tribe 

 delight in abundance of dung ; celery 

 and onions are very poor without it, 

 and there is scarcely any kitchen crop 

 but likes to root in a soil in which 

 dung has been well mingled. Now, 

 stable dung is much valued by gar- 

 deners, but cottagers are often wasteful 

 of it. It is good to let it rot well, for 

 if put on green, it is apt to foul the 

 soil, but the dung-heap should not be 

 carelessly made up, so that every 

 shower may wash its goodness out, 

 and every hot blaze of sunshine burn 

 it to powder. Make up your dung- 

 heap in the style of a rick, and put a 

 layer of stiff soil over the top, to shut 

 in the gases. It is a good plan, when 

 dung is wheeled in, to stack it in 

 alternate layers with vegetable refuse, 

 sawdust, straw, or even earth ; these 

 substances absorb many of the gases 

 which would escape from the heap, 

 and become almost as enriching as the 

 dung itself, and by laying up with a 

 ridged top and a layer of earth over 

 all, the rain is thrown off without 



