S4 SOILS AND MANURES. [CHAP. II. 



produce an immediate effect ; but if the effect 

 is wished to be more gradual, and prolonged 

 for a considerable space of time, half-decayed 

 stable manure is best, buried in trenches, or 

 bone dust, which is the most durable of all 

 manures. To observe that green crops of vege- 

 tables, dug into the ground, produce the quickest 

 effect on sandy soil. To remember that, when 

 ground has become soured by stagnant water, 

 the best remedy is draining and adding lime. 

 Never to apply fresh stable manure to growing 

 plants without fermenting it, nor liquid manure 

 from a dunghill without diluting it with water. 

 To be very cautious in the use of new manures, 

 as most of those recently introduced are so 

 strong as to be dangerous in inexperienced hands. 

 To mix loam or some other earth with decayed 

 leaves, as they are so rich in saline matters as 

 to be sometimes injurious when they are used 

 alone. To remember that composts, or mixed 

 manures, are generally more efficacious than 

 any simple manure, and that mixed soils are 

 always the most fertile ; and never to forget that 

 the air is full of nutritious food for plants, and 

 that it should be always permitted to have access 

 to the roots, provided it be in a state of such 

 minute subdivision as to be in no danger of 

 drying the roots. 



