THE FLORAL WORLD AND GARDEN GUIDE. 



159 



sodclening it, and the gaseous matters 



cannot so readily escape. On many 



highly cultured farms, the compost 



heaps are all kept under cover, exposed 



to the air, but sheltered from rain and 



sun, to economise the many volatile j the crop that follows 



ingredients which are so soon lost if the | system of cropping, 



crop rejoices in the abundance of 

 manure, and by the time it conies off, 

 the ground is mellowed, the manure 

 decayed, and well mixed with the soil, 

 and all is in a sweet, rich condition for 

 In a regular 

 this is easily 



heap is thrown together anyhow and managed, without fear of injury to 

 left to the free action of the weather. ! anything 

 Then, again, it is common enough to 



see dung wheeled on to ground and 

 left in little heaps for weeks, and, 

 perhaps, heavy rain falling all the 

 while, so that, though the rain may 

 wash a great deal of it into the soil, 

 still very much of it is wasted, and 

 the most valuable properties of it are 

 those that dissolve most easily. Ex- 

 cept in frosty weather, manure should 

 never be left in this careless manner. 

 Wheel it out in dry weather, and dig 

 it in at once, that the soil may absorb 

 from it what would otherwise be wasted ; 

 for ordinary vegetable culture does 

 not need the manures so thoroughly 

 rotted and refined as is necessary in the 

 culture of flowers. Whatever donns- 

 tic animals are kept — and a couple of 

 she goats, a few fowls, a cow, rabbit*, 

 pigeons, are all useful appendages to 

 a garden — should be made to contri- 

 bute their quota of manure to the 

 ground. Waste not a bit ; keep your 

 animals clean, and, as fast as you can 

 iill a barrow, wheel the stuff at once 

 to your heap, and keep on increasing 

 that at every opportunity. On the 

 question of rotting dung, I may just 

 note, that ior three years past I have 

 been in the habit of using dung much 

 less rotted than is usual ; in fact, it has 

 been dug in at once whenever it was 

 possible to do so, and having been 

 supplied with goats' dung sufficient for 

 my small kitchen garden, I have 

 brought the ground to a high state of 

 production without forming any heap 

 at all, except on a small scale, and for 

 special purposes. But then, I take a 

 crop of cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, 

 celery, or some other rank feeder from 

 the ground so manured, and follow 

 these with tap roots, potatoes, and 

 other things that do not like fresh 

 manuring, giving no manure at all 

 when these are planted, and the result 

 has been satisfactory, for the first 



Among other solid manures, night 

 soil and guano may be noticed. The 

 first is a very powerful fertilizer, and 

 can still be had in many country 

 districts, though our big towns are all 

 busy in devising schemes to waste it. 

 London, especially, might contribute to 

 the soil around her, manure worth two 

 millions a-year, yet the Boards that 

 manage these things, are busying their 

 wooden heads to throw it into the sea. 

 Mr. Schubler thus estimates the re- 

 lative value of night soil : — 



"If a given quantity of land, sown 

 without manure, yields three times 

 the seed employed, then the same 

 quantity of land will produce five 

 times the quantity sown when manured 

 with old herbage, putrid grass or 

 leaves, garden stuff, &c. ; seven times 

 with cow-dung, nine times with pi- 

 geons'-dung, ten times with horse- 

 dung, twelve times with human urine, 

 twelve times with goats'-dung, twelve 

 times with sheeps'-dung, and fourteen 

 times with human manure, or bullocks' 

 blood ; but if the land be of such 

 quality as to yield without manure 

 five times the quantity sown, then the 

 horse-dung manure will yield fourteen, 

 and human manure nineteen and two- 

 thirds the sown quantity." 



To prepare night soil for use, first 

 mix it with quicklime, or plaster, or 

 chloride of lime, to destroy its dis- 

 agreeable odour. Then spread it in a 

 thin layer on a bed of sand during dry 

 weather. Put a layer of sand, or poor 

 mould, or the remains of a heap of 

 burnt turf over it, and, in the course 

 of a week, turn it over and lay it up 

 in a ridge again, covering it with 

 charred refuse, or earth. It will 

 speedily dry and pulverise, and may 

 be either dug in where a crop is to be 

 planted, or delivered into the drills 

 with the seed. For any of the cabbage 

 tribe, onions, celery, potatoes, seakale, 



