90 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 



decayed vegetable matter, and then its effect will be 

 quickly visible. 



Here is one of the many proofs that there are two dis- 

 tinct classes of manures one serving as the actual food of 

 plants, the other assisting in preparing that food by com- 

 bining with the substance in the soil, and bringing it into 

 a form that the plants can assimilate, or by changing such 

 as would be inimical to vegetable life. Thus, for instance, 

 when we apply lime to a newly-broken piece of land which 

 is mucky, we say that the lime has " sweetened it," because 

 its action on the carbonic acid contained in the muck is 

 such as to change by combination that which would other- 

 wise be hurtful to vegetation, and to transform it to a val- 

 uable manure. 



Every orange grower should prepare a compost heap as 

 one of the very first steps to successful cultivation. 



Make a pen of any desired size with posts for the cor- 

 ners, boarded sides, and a tight board floor; for conven- 

 ience in filling it is well to have one side made so that the 

 boards can be added or taken away at will ; two perpen- 

 dicular strips at each end, with space between to allow the 

 boards to move up and down, will be found very handy. 

 The tight board bottom is very important, as it saves all 

 the liquid manure that would otherwise wash down in the 

 ground and be lost ; but even more so is a roof to cover 

 the compost from the destroying effect of the sun, and also 

 to shed heavy rains, at least partially. 



No thrifty or intelligent man will allow his compost or 

 stable manure to be exposed to the sun and rain, knowing, 

 as he does, if he have any ordinary knowledge of his busi- 

 ness, that fully two thirds of its value is thus wasted. A 

 pile of stable manure or compost leached by sun and rain 

 is a pitiable spectacle of slovenly farming, and the man 

 who pursues this method may be sure he will never pros- 



