CHAP, n.] VEGETABLE MANURES. 31 



nourishing to cattle. It is seldom used in 

 gardens; but, when it is, it is very lasting in its 

 effects. Poudrette is a manure prepared in 

 Paris bv drying night-soil, and generally adding 

 to it either gypsum or lime. It is a very strong 

 manure, and abounds in nitrogen. Taffb is a 

 manure imported from China, which consists of 

 dried night-soil mixed with clay. 



Vegetable manures consist chiefly of decayed 

 leaves, the refuse of culinary vegetables, tan, 

 and charcoal. Decayed leaves and tan are used 

 for hotbeds, from the heat they evolve in fer- 

 menting: and decaved leaves and other vege- 

 table refuse also form a good, though not a 

 strong, kind of manure if properly turned over 

 and occasionally watered while they are under- 

 going the process of decay. Burnt weeds and 

 the ashes of burnt wood are also very efficacious 

 manures: the latter especially, as it abounds in 

 potash, which is found upon analysis to be the 

 most important element in the inorganic matters 

 contained m most garden vegetables. Green 

 crops of weeds or other vegetable matter dug 

 into the soil before they have been allowed to 

 seed, are also found to act admirably as manure. 

 In many parts of Italy and Piedmont, lupines 

 are sown on purpose to be ploughed in, and 

 thev are always followed bv a rich crop. When 

 vegetable matter in a green state is buried in 

 the ground, but not so deeply as to be out of 

 reach of the air, it decomposes rapidly, and 

 affords the plants grown in the same soil after 

 it, an ample supply of food. In like manner, 

 in the same countries, the tops of potatoes and 

 beans, and the cuttings of vines, &c, are advan- 



