204 THE GARDENER. [May 



varieties, but as often as otherwise some old sort of good repute that has some- 

 times by accident received another name; but quite as often the variety has 

 been rechristened with the deliberate purpose of foisting it upon the public as 

 new, and making capital by the transaction — otherwise, "obtaining money 

 under false pretences." How this is done is occasionally amusingly illustrated, 

 and to the discomfiture of the impostor. The jugglery is accomplished in this 

 way : A. raises a new and excellent variety of the Cabbage tribe, we shall say, 

 and perhaps distributes it locally or extensively, as the case may be. By-and- 

 by B. comes on the scene, gets a pinch of A.'s seed, which he sows; and being 

 of an enterprising turn, saves the seed, and perhaps exhibits samples of the 

 variety as well under a new name. He has probably only harvested seed from 

 the first sowing ; but being desirous to realise as soon as possible, he sends it 

 out or sells it to some member of the trade, who brings it out with a consider- 

 able tlourish of trumpets a? a new aud particularly excellent thing, originated 

 by Mr Plausible, after years of careful selection ; and of course Mr Plausible is 

 ready to declare, if needful, that not a soul holds a particle of seed of the valu- 

 able strain but himself : and thus it falls out that the favoured tradesman is 

 enabled to sell A.'s Cabbage - seed about five hundred per cent above his 

 neighbour, who disposes of it under its original name. By-and-by the gar- 

 dener or his employer finds out that he has been duped ; but Mr Plausible 

 has pocketed the cash, and there is no redress— he is left to bite his nails. 



The 'Agricultural Gazette,' speaking of manure, says: "The superiority 

 of farmyard manure over every other fertiliser may be accounted for as 

 follows : It contains from its very nature all the necessary constituents 

 of plants, just as surely as jam contains the constituents of the fruit from 

 which it was made. Besides the active ingredients, such as phosphates, 

 sulphates, chlorates, nitrates, &c, which are the very essence of all arti- 

 ficial manures, it contains a mass of organic matter which, during its decay, 

 gives up carbonic acid to the soil, and thus acts as a solvent upon the mineral 

 ingredients therein contained. As it decays slowly, it surrenders its good 

 qualities gradually, and hence has more ' stay ' in it than most manufactured 

 manures — which, as a rule, require to be applied just when or immediately 

 before the crop is growing most rapidly. Farmyard manure is found to im- 

 prove land more than any other fertiliser. The farmer who keeps a large head 

 of stock permanently increases the capabilities of his land, whereas purchased 

 manures generally increase the yield of one crop and do not affect succeeding 

 crops except indirectly, as previously pointed out, by increasing the manure- 

 heap. In this respect there is a strong resemblance between the action 

 of dung and that of oil-cake fed on the land with sheep. "When the 

 nature of the land allows of this last treatment, it is more than probable 

 that the condition of the land will be kept up as well as by dressings of 

 dung. This permanent effect of dung, whether in the form of farmyard man- 

 ure or sheep-droppings, gives it a real superiority over purchased manures, and 

 is likely to maintain its reputation among farmers in spite of the efforts of 

 some persons to present it to our attention from a coldly chemical point of 

 view. In this connection we might apply the words of Hamlet to those who 

 judge fertilisers entirely by analysis — "There are more things in heaven and 

 earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy." Let us be even willing to 

 admit that in the economy of nature there may be reasons which agricultural 

 chemists have not yet sounded that may give the dung of animals and debris 

 of plants a special use in the production of fresh vegetable forms. Such 

 docility of mind is much wanted at the present time among theorists ; but 



