208 JOTTINGS OF A GENTLEMAN GARDENER 



used at the rate of about 4 Ibs. per square rod in the spring 

 or summer and forked in. 



In coast places fish is sometimes used as manure. I have 

 had no experience of it, but I am told that it is a powerful 

 general manure. The quantity to apply seems to be a 

 matter of opinion, but I would begin with 20-25 bushels 

 and increase to 30-35 bushels per acre as an experiment. 

 I understand that when it is very cheap, even up to 50 

 bushels per acre is used, but one should hesitate to use so 

 freely what is said to be so powerful a manure. The time 

 to apply it is, I am told, during the early winter months, 

 dug in deeply in the same manner as ordinary manure. 



Bones are a useful manure for the garden. Their chief 

 value is in the phosphate of lime they contain. Sheep 

 bones contain the highest percentage of phosphate of lime 

 and the lowest percentage of animal matter ; pig bones 

 contain the lowest percentage of phosphate of lime and 

 the highest percentage of animal matter. Generally 

 speaking it is best to apply them in the autumn in the form 

 of bone-meal, at the rate of about 8 Ibs. per square rod. 

 The material is well forked or dug in. 



There are other kinds of animal manures and animal 

 products which may be used, but it is not thought worth 

 while to describe them here. Fowl and pigeon manures, 

 guano, blood, and bones are not substitutes for animal 

 manure, but they may be used when a soil already contains 

 enough humus, for spring, or, in the case of bones, for 

 autumn or winter digging. 



The Storage of Manures : There is a lot of waste of 

 animal manures going on all over the country in gardens 

 and on farms alike. Every farm has its dung heap, and 

 every allotment, or nearly every one, has an open exposed 

 manure heap. We see such manure heaps steaming, 

 and we smell their unpleasant odours, but how often does 

 the average man know or think of the frightful waste that 

 is going on. Gases are escaping, which ought to be utilised 

 for fertilising the ground. Salts are being decomposed and 

 dissolved, and gallons of liquids escape from big manure 



