V MANURES 77 



The overflow water from a cesspool is very good as liquid 

 manure, and hardly ever too strong for anything; my 

 overflow tank is regularly emptied on my garden at 

 night every full moon by jDump and hand cart, for 

 nothing from my house goes into the river, but all into 

 the garden. There is some obvious inconvenience about 

 this in the summer, and we have at that time to choose 

 our nights with care ; I do not then put it on the Rose 

 beds, as it has sometimes to be done hastily, and more 

 care and better light would be required. It should be 

 understood that the contents of the overflow or second 

 cesspool are quite as good if not better than the night- 

 soil itself, for the value is in the liquid. It is desirable, 

 if possible, to have a separate tank with pumps for the 

 contents of housemaids' slop-pails ; this will be the most 

 valuable liquid manure that comes from the house, and 

 will generally not be so offensive but that, with choice 

 of opportunity, it may be applied in the daytime. 



Soot water is good, but would be expensive and 

 troublesome to use in quantity ; it is more useful for pot 

 plants. The soot should be tied up in a bag and sunk 

 in a cask or tank, and the result is a clear liquid of a 

 wine colour, much appreciated by gardeners for mild 

 fertilisation. 



Artificial Manures. — It is not necessary to go into 

 the discovery by the great scientists of the possibility of 

 manufacturing by chemistry plant manures, which are 

 called artificial not because they are not the real things 

 but simply because they are made and compounded by 

 art and science. It will suffice to state that those 

 wonderful fellows the analytical chemists, who are 

 always wanting to find out what things are made of, 

 showed that as growing plants consist of certain 

 soluble minerals in different proportions, so (they 



