486 PRACTICE OF GARDENING. Part III. 



produced on it for many years successively. It is not intended that the whole garden should be trenched 

 over the same season, " one half, or a third part at a time may be more advisable, and also more con- 

 Tenient." (Kal. p. 16.) 



Sect. II. Manure. 



2551. When manure is applied the ground is not to be glutted with dung ; for, as 

 Marshall observes, " a little at a time, well rotted, is sufficient, so that it comes often 

 enough, as opportunity and the nature of the cropping may dictate. It is indeed a sort 

 of rule with gardeners, that ground should be dunged every second year ; but circum- 

 stances may make more or less of it necessary, and rules should never be indiscriminately 

 applied. If dung is pretty well reduced much less will do, and let it not be buried too 

 deep ; but if it is otherwise, lay it low, to be dug upwards another time, when it is more 

 consumed. It is an excellent way of manuring, where the superficial soil is much ex- 

 hausted, to dig slightly, and spread over rotten dung, late in autumn, in the winter, or 

 early in spring, and so let it remain, till the ground is wanted, before it is dug in ; which 

 should, however, be slightly dug before the manure is put on, or forked in a little after- 

 wards. This method is particularly to be recommended where crops of onions, leeks, 

 and such superficial rooting plants are to be." 



2552. Dung used in great quantities, and lying in lumps, harbors worms, grubs, and 

 insects, and makes plants grow too rampant and rank-jlavored. Carrots it cankers, and it 

 disagrees with many things ; is apt also to make the ground parch, and burn the crops sown 

 upon it in a hot summer. On these accounts some persons have been induced to dress 

 their gardens only with rich fresh earth ; which, if they do not overcrop, will do very 

 well, being accompanied with good tillage ; which alone is of much use, and is essential 

 to due cultivation. Vegetables are always sweeter the less dung is used, and little need 

 be used when the natural soil is good and deep ; for the earth may be so dug, that what 

 is at the top one year may be at the bottom the next : which is a manoeuvre evidently 

 advantageous, as a good part of the strength of the top soil washes downwards. The 

 method just recommended, of letting dung lie on the surface for a time, is good also, as 

 it abates the rankness of it. Lime sweetens. 



2553. The periods for applying manures necessarily depends on the soil and the mode 

 of cropping. If the original soil be poor, it may require aid from dung every year ; but, 

 in general, the compartments in which annuals and biennials are cultivated will want to 

 be thus recruited at least once in two years, when the last autumn crops are off the 

 ground. Beds occupied by perennials cannot sometimes receive any material accession 

 of new earth or compost for a number of years ; and therefore, when the stools are 

 worn out, the repairs of the soil should, in proportion, be substantial, and go deep. 

 Dung is fit to manure beds for receiving many sorts of plants, when it has lain in a heap 

 from three to six months, and is beginning to be well rotted. But for particular pur- 

 poses, it should lie from one to two years. Apply it for annuals, two or three inches 

 thick ; for perennials that are to stand long, six or eight inches thick ; spreading it 

 equally, till the bed into which it is to be dug is covered : then trench it in a moderate 

 spade deep, that it may be within easy reach of the roots of the plants. In preparing 

 ground for perennial stools, a portion of the dung should be deposited six inches deeper. 

 (Abercrombie.) 



2554. Manures are to be applied either as simples or compounds ; but the latter method 

 Nicol considers the most eligible. He agrees with Jethro Tull in stating, that if they 

 have not undergone a proper fermentation, their effects are, giving a rank and disagree- 

 able flavor to fruits and vegetables ; and if an immoderate quantity be applied, of 

 producing a considerable degree of unwholesomeness, and tainting the juices of all 

 plants. 



A mixture of stable-dung, sea-weed, lime, and vegetable mould, which has lain in a heap for three 

 or four months, and has been two or three times turned during that period, will make an excellent manure 

 for most kinds of garden-land. Also, cow-dung, hog-dung, and sheep-dung, mixed with soot or with 

 wood-ashes. Pigeon-dung and vegetable mould, well mixed, will also make an excellent manure for heavy 

 land ; or even for lighter soils, provided the pigeon-dung be used sparingly. 



Neats-dun^ and hog-dung, slightly fermented, are very fit and rich manures for light hot soils. For 

 those of a dry, absorbent nature, none answer better, or last longer; by reason that they retain moisture 

 for a greater length of time, and also ferment more slowly than other dungs. 



Pigeon-dung, lime, soot, ashes, &c. should never be applied as simples ; the quantity required being com- 

 paratively small, and the regular distribution of them difficult, without the admixture of other matter. 

 But these should generally be applied to compost of good earth, turf, or sward, or of cow, or other dung 

 of a cool nature ; applying them in quantity according to the cold or the hot nature of the soil to be ma- 

 nured, allowing the compost a sufficient time to incorporate, and mixing it thoroughly. 



Marl is a good manure for almost any soil : and it may be applied as a simple, with as much propriety 

 as any of the kinds of cattle-dung, or even of vegetable earth. The kind called shell-marl, is much to be 

 preferred, and should be freely applied to strong lands, but more sparingly to light; the loamy kind being 

 best adapted to light lands. 



Sfablr-diing, if used as a simple, should not be applied in too rank a state, nor should it be much fermented. 

 It should generally lie in a heap for four or five weeks ; during which time it should be turned over once 

 or twice. A ton of it in this state is worth three that has been used in the hot-bed, and is a year old. This 

 manure, and indeed dung of any kind, when applied as a simple, should never be carried from the heap to 

 the ground, till it is to be digged in ; as, by exposure to the air, part of its virtues evaporate, and it is the 

 less effectual 



