96 FLORIDA FRUITS ORANGES. 



he claims) for increasing the properties of the proportions 

 of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash, and reducing the 

 amount of waste to be handled : 



"Instead of throwing the manure out of the stables and 

 putting it in piles to be leached and sun-dried, keep it 

 where it drops ; keep the stable well littered with straw, 

 grass, pine-needles, and sawdust, which answer the double 

 purpose of making good beds for the animals to lie on, and 

 of absorbing the liquid manures and the gases of the other 

 fermenting excrements. The urine of domestic animals is 

 worth much more than the dung, and this I have found 

 the best and cheapest way of preserving it. Keep a good 

 supply of ' trash ' on hand, and every two or three days, 

 as the stalls become foul, cover them with a fresh layer. 



" Let it stand during the whole season, and in the spring 

 haul it out and distribute it. The whole mass will be de- 

 composed and comparatively dry. One load of such ma- 

 nure is worth half a dozen that has been made in the usual 

 way, and all the labor of repeated handling will have been 

 avoided." 



We have now said quite enough to prove our assertion 

 a while ago, that there is no excuse for any man in Florida 

 wfoo can procure the services of a horse and cart, for not 

 having a sufficiency of fertilizer for his grove. If he has 

 no horse of his own, it would be an easy matter to go out 

 in the piney woods or hammock, rake up a number of piles 

 of trash, and then hire a horse and cart for a day to haul 

 them to his compost pen. 



In applying fertilizers to trees, the latter should be 

 treated rationally. A surfeit of rich food will derange 

 the animal system, and so it will the vegetable. Too large 

 quantities of manures rich in nitrogen, for instance will 

 cause die-back and fungoid diseases. 



While the trees are young and in rapid growth they will 



