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IRISH GARDENING. 



Artificial Manures : 



Or, " Back to the Land." 



By JOHN W. IVcKay, A.P. C.S.I. , Instructor in Agriculture for 

 the County of Dublin. 



{Continued from fage 83.] 



POTASH SALTS— like the common salt, 

 which they resemble in many ways — are 

 easily dissolved in water, and thus any part 

 of them not used by the crop may easily be washed 

 away in drainage waters, and thence make its way 

 to the sea. Although such does happen, they are 

 not altogether lost, for a small part may find its 

 way back to the soil in seaweed. The greater 

 part, however, remains dissolved in the sea- 

 water, and if by any chance portion of this 

 water were to be cut off and exposed to evapo- 

 ration, the salts would in the end be left behind. 

 This is at present occurring in the Salt Lake 

 district in America, and in other cases in 

 various parts of the world. In past ages this 

 must have taken place to an enormous extent 

 in certain districts, as is to be seen from the 

 immense deposits of such salts found — for 

 example, in the German province of Stassfurt, 

 where common rock-salt and potash salts are 

 found in deposits many feet in thickness. 



In these potash minerals the quantity of 

 potash varies to a large extent ; the richer 

 minerals are usually crushed and sold off in the 

 natural state as kainit, while the poorer minerals 

 are purified and concentrated by several chemical 

 processes, and converted into one of the two 

 forms, muriate of potash or sulphate of potash. 



We have now traced these manurial sub- 

 stances — phosphates, nitrogen, and potash — 

 through their varied course from the soil back 

 again to the same place, and it has been seen 

 that, far from their being unsuited to the 

 requirements of crops and the needs of the soil, 

 all of them are quite natural in their origin, 

 and in many cases have already helped in 

 building up healthy plants and animals, and 

 are quite suitable for again serving a similar 

 purpose. 



In some districts of South America, where 

 there is little or no rainfall, deposits of a material 

 resembling rock-salt are found, and mixed with 

 this material are sand, earth, and other im- 

 purities. These are removed by washing and 

 dissolving with water, which is then evaporated 

 off, and the manure, nitrate of soda, is left behind 

 in a practically pure form. Nitrate of soda is 

 useful to the crop on account of the nitrogen it 

 contains, but how the nitrogen came to be bound 

 up in such a material seems difficult to explain. 

 The general opinion among scientists is that it 

 was taken from the air through the agency of 

 germs or bacteria. Every shower washes down 

 a small quantity of the inexhaustible supply of 



nitrogen contained in the air ; in addition, certain 

 plants — notably the clover family — are able to 

 obtain part of their supply of nitrogen directly 

 from the air, and, by their subsequent decay in 

 the soil, increase the amount available for other 

 plants. 



In past ages vegetation must have been much 

 more prodigal in certain districts than at present, 

 and when, through geological or other changes, 

 these great quantities of vegetation were covered 

 over and became partially decayed, our present 

 supplies of coal were formed. When coal is 

 burned the nitrogen, formerly stored up in these 

 plants, is set free in various forms, but mainly 

 as ammonia, and as this can be converted into 

 a valuable form of manure it is now the custom, 

 in most industrial establishments where coal is 

 used in quantity, to so convert the ammonia. 

 After passing through various complicated 

 processes it is changed through the agency of 

 sulphuric acid into sulphate of ammonia- an 

 extremely valuable manure on account of the 

 considerable amount of nitrogen which it con- 

 tains. 



5^** C^^ fi^^ 



The Herbaceous Border. 



ATTEND to any tall herbaceous plants that 

 ±\. require staking. Never use a tall stake 

 when a small or lighter one would 

 support the flower stalk. Always stake from 

 the back of the flower stalk. Nothing looks so 

 unsightly in the border than stakes sticking up 

 over the heads of the flowers. 



After delphiniums have done flowering cut 

 the flower stalk down, and the plants will flower 

 again in the autumn. 



Transplant all biennial seedlings out into 

 nursery beds as soon as they are fit ; by doing 

 so the plants will be fine and sturdy, fit to 

 plant out into their flowering quarters in 

 October. Cuttings of pinks, Arabis olpina, 

 Alyssiini saxatile, the double sweet rocket, and 

 pentstemons will strike roots if put in under 

 a close frame at the end of this month. Select 

 a cool place, keep close and shaded from hot 

 sun until they begin to make growth. When 

 they are rooted the lights can be taken off" as 

 the plants should be grown sturdy. 



Layer carnations, pansies and violas should 

 be cut down. Place a handful of fine soil in the 

 centre of each plant, and the young shoots will 

 push up through the soil. Each shoot will be a 

 rooted plant in the autumn, fit to plant out. 



Frank Hudson. 



^5* 8^^ ^^ 



" Sing ! sing me a song that is fit for to-day, 

 Sing me a song of sunshine, a warm, sweet lay, 

 Blue larkspur and bold white daisies and odour of 

 hay." — Bevington, 



