42 Matdct Gardening. 



to be produced ; but in the market gardens where are 

 grown several crops in a single season,, maintaining a 

 constant drain upon the nourishment afforded by the 

 soil, such a plan would not be found to work well. 



One reason for this is, that where two or three crops 

 are to be grown during the season, the particular kind 

 of fertilizer which would be required by one crop 

 might be of little or no value to the others. And 

 moreover, it would be a very difficult matter to apply, 

 from time to time, sufficient quantities of commercial 

 fertilizers to carry all the crops to maturity. But stable 

 manure answers well for all crops, and so, if desired 

 (though not always necessary or convenient), enough 

 can be applied at the time of ploughing, in the spring, 

 to carry all the crops through the season. 



Green or composted stable manure, besides the in- 

 creased store of plant food it directly provides for the 

 growing crop, increasing its vigor, and enabling it to 

 strike deeper, has no doubt a beneficial effect upon the 

 mechanical condition or texture of the soil. This is not 

 the case with the commercial fertilizers, which, if used 

 without the stable manure as a corrective, in course of 

 time make the land sodden and heavy. Thus it will be 

 seen that, for vraious reasons, commercial fertilizers 

 cannot wholly or even largely take the place of stable 

 manure, while they are nevertheless much esteemed for 

 use in combination with it. Siuce the use of commer- 

 cial fertilizers has become general the price of stable 

 manure has decreased ; and while the convenience of 

 procuring the former makes them more particularly con- 

 venient and valuable to the stock-feeding farmers (who 



