RING. 



MANfHINii 



fertility It conferred, may be now regarded u practice* which, if rightly 

 performed, are not more wasteful than other mode* of applying manure. 

 It u becoming mure and more the practice in Kngl.md t<> apply tiie 

 bulk of the firm manure in thii way. Clover, either Irani. 

 after the barley harvest, or during that autumn, receive* a dressing of 

 10 to 15 ton* of farm-yard dung, which as it has been made during 

 the previous spring, U generally in a very well rotted state ; or the 

 name clover receives a heavy dressing in the subsequent autumn, pre- 

 vious to being ploughed up for wheat. The former is considered the 

 best plan, at least as regards that portion uf the clover which is to be 

 mown in the following year. The turnip crop is thus being left more 

 and more dependent on the use of artificial manure a half-dressing of 

 dung and a good dressing of superphosphate of lime is found equal in 

 effect to the best whole dressing of dung which under other manage- 

 ment the farm could afford. 



One word on the practice of folding sheep on land in the case of light 

 oils. It will no doubt be a permanent practice. Probably a larger 

 portion however of the green crop break is being harvested and carried 

 home to yards, for fatting stock to help convert the straw into dung, 

 and to help, along with the consumption of clover, hay, and cake and 

 corn, to make much better dung than has hitherto in general been 

 made. Probably on a light-land farm in Norfolk, one-tbird of the 

 turnip-crop will be carried home, leaving two-thirds on the land for 

 sheep. Uu the best managed lands there, every sheep will consume 

 1 cwt. of cake or corn, in addition to the 12th part of an acre of 

 swedes, and if in doing that it increases 10 or 1'-' pmmd.-f a quarter, as 

 it probably may, it will do little more than simply return in its excre- 

 ments all the green food which it hag consumed. That turnip crop liad 

 built up its bulky structure at the expense of the deeper as well as of 

 the shallower soil (fur we have traced the roots of turnips 4 feet down- 

 wards), and largely also out of the material which it lias gathered from 

 the air ; and by means of the sheep this large quantity of plant food, 

 gathered from subsoil and from air, ia all accumulated in the upper 

 soil, greatly of course to its advantage, a-.d greatly to the advantage of 

 the subsequent wheat crop, and of such plants as, like it, may be more 

 exclusively do[H;ndcnt than the turnip is upon the material which the 

 surface soil contains. The material thus lodged upon the soil is in a 

 form in which it is more liable to putrefaction and waste than it was : 

 but air washes these fugitive ingredients into the land, and the 

 soon covers all up ; and when the mechanical structure of the land 

 is such as to bcnctit by the treading of the animals thus fed, there in 

 no operation in the whole range of farm practice which at once adds 

 such an increased fertility to the soil. 



MANURING, in horticulture, requires to be considered in a some- 

 what different light from that process as applied to agricultural 

 purposes. This U necessary because of the variety of plants, pos- 

 sessing different constitutional habits, to which the gardener is required 

 to turn his attention, and also because of the different results which 

 are expected in horticulture and agriculture. In preparing the present 

 article, the writer has confined himself to simple practical facts, and 

 has adverted only occa-ionally to chemical explanations. 



The gardener is called upon to cultivate species from almost every 

 kind of soil on the surface of the globe, intermediate between the 

 shifting sands of the desert and the most fertile alluvial land con- 

 tinually enriched by the decay of vegetable and animal substances. It 

 U therefore obvious that considerable caution is requisite in applying 

 manure, and in determining the quantity or quality suited to the 

 respective constitutions of the various subjects which the horticulturist 

 takes under his care. Thus, although many plants can scarcely receive 

 too much manure, others, such as the resinous trees, may be actually 

 kill.-.l by it. 



The "kind of manure chiefly used, and frequently the only kin.l 

 procurable by the gardener, is that derived from the farm-yard, con- 

 sisting chiefly of the dung of horses or of horned cattle, more or less 

 mixed with litter. Formerly it was very generally the custom to take 

 advantage of the heat resulting from the fermentation of such dnng in 

 hot-bed forcing, and there are still some objects for which this kind is 

 found preferable [ HOT 111 D) ; but since the hot-water system of 1 

 has received so many improvements, the continued fermentation and 

 consequent degre *ition which dung undergoes in hot-beds 



is rendered a lex important means of obtaining artificial warmth, and 

 consequently it becomes the more important to inquire whether manure 

 u nmt beneficially applied in a state of decomposition, as sutne have 

 advocated, or in a stale as recent as possible, no fermentation being 

 permitted previous to its deposition in the soil. 



If dung contains a large proportion of litter, and particularly if the 

 latter be in a dry state, it will be advisable to subject it in nearly all 

 rains to a moderate degree of fermentation, n* listed by a sufficient 

 quantity of moisture, in order that the fibre of the straw may be 

 reduced to a state permeable by the spongioles of plants, aii<! 

 become sufficiently dissolved for affording nourishment it-elf, or serve 

 in the first instance as an absorbent reservoir fur sulwtances of still 

 greater solubility. W here such preparation has not been attended to, 

 litter has been frequently observed, when turned out of the 

 after a dry rummer, to be still in a dry musty slate, having i-v 

 been of little benefit to the crop ; and in the case of many plants, 

 which require much m-murc. litt.-r in this state would actually prove 

 very injurious. But if the dung be what is termed short, containing 



little straw, and that well saturated with the liquid proceeds of the 

 stalls, jt may be dug in without fermentation for moat kitchen garden 

 roviiled it is well divided and properly mmxl with the soil in 

 digging nr trenching in. This is necessary in all coses, but more espe- 

 cially so when the manure is applied fresh ; for disease is often induced 

 l.y the roots entering into manses constituted of particular substances 

 whii h either wholly or, at all events, too powerfully predominate over 

 the piop'T nutritive solutions. 



But, on the other hand, if the soil is of a wet and stiff nature, then 

 long unrotted dung is most proper, because its straws form so many 

 minute drains, which, to speak technically, keep the ground open ; and 

 in such soils, by means of littery manure and drilling, a crop of potatoes, 

 for example, can be raised very superior in quantity and quality to that 

 obtained from the application of rotten dung. In this case the pr 

 reduction of the fibre of the straw is not requisite ; for the moisture of 

 such soils is sufficient to effect this by degrees, and whilst the process 

 of growth is going on. The authority of Miller may be addu 

 this subject ; in his ' Gardener's Dictionary,' he observes, " In very 

 cold moist land, I hare frequently seen new horse-dung buried as it 

 came from the stables, and always observed that the crops have suc- 

 ceeded better than where the ground was dressed with 

 dung." 



On the other hand, dung that has been moderately fermented, and 

 frequently turned over, so as to be easily cut with a spade, is the most 

 proper for such trees as require manure, or for slow-growing crops, 

 where the roots have to remain for years in contact with it. With 

 regard to trees and many perennial plants, no more injury would be 

 incurred by using fresh dung instead of rotten, for the first season, or 

 rather whilst vegetation continued active; but after the roots i> 

 nearly dormant, canker or disease of some sort is apt to ensue. The 

 roots may have grown luxuriantly during the summer ; but when they 

 are arrested by the approach of winter, decomposition will still bo going 

 on amongst the materials on which they feed, and these materials may 

 perhaps be chemically changed, before the roots ore again called to 

 action 



These remarks relate chiefly to the description of manure which U 

 most generally used. Other substances which are or may be success- 

 fully applied to promote the growth of vegetation are exceedingly 

 numerous. [MANURE.] 



Animal substances are very powerful manures, and require to be 

 attenuated or diluted before plants can derive nourishment 

 or in fact before either roots or tops can be safely brought within their 

 contact. If the roots of a plant be wholly immersed in oil or in blood, 

 that plant will be destroyed. Blood is one of those liquid in 

 which is occasionally supplied to plants so situated as to render bulky 

 manure inapplicable ; but it should unquestionably be copiously diluted 

 with water, and be allowed to rot in compost. Bones are another form 

 of aninfal matter much employed, and of considerable energy, especially 

 in calcareous soils, provided they are reduced into small fragments and 

 fermented before being used. Gardeners often use them in that state ; 

 and now, aa dissolved in sulphuric acid, they ore, of course, as available 

 in the garden as in the field. 



The liquid portions of excrementitious manure likewise require 

 either to be diluted with water or to receive an admixture of soil 

 before they are brought in contact with the roots of plants. In the 

 case of trees with roots lying deep in the ground, such dilution is not 

 always necessary ; but, generally speaking, adherence to the rule is 

 advisable. 



Flesh, or the carcases of dead [animals, should be chopped up and 

 I and mixed, with many times their bulk of soil and witl. 

 some lime. This, when turned over, will still form a very strong 

 manure, and for some plants much too strong ; but for such as the 

 vine it will form a valuable compost, particularly if broken bones are 

 added to it. 



Manures derived from the vegetable kingdom require little prepara- 

 tion if they coiiHi.it of succulent plants ; their substance is easily soluble, 

 and they may therefore be turned tYe-h into the soil. The period at 

 their growth when this is most beneficially performed is before they 

 run to seed. Weeds may even be used with great advantage, if 

 properly prepar< d ; but bad consequences in iy result, from their seeds 

 rendering the ground foul, and thus occasioning much expenditni-,- of 

 Ulioiir to cxtiipite them again Seeds, it in well known, will not 

 germinate without air; but with this, and sufficient heat and moisture, 

 em prevent them from germinating. Therefore if weeds be 

 thrown into a heap and turned, whilst at the same time I. Tim 

 is encouraged till the heat is fully equal to that w hieh would naturally 

 cause the germination of the seeds, taking care that the outeide be 

 t'u n, d into the centre, no danger will arise from using sueh manure 

 after the process has been continued sufficiently lung for the germina- 

 tion of the slowest vegetating seeds which the heap may contain, 

 because under these circumstances the young plant* will be < -om mu.dly 

 peii.-hing an the heap IN ' '* to week. There are 



many aquatic plants that will not grow on dry ground, ami a pi 

 tion similar to the above is nut essential for the purpose of killing 

 their seeds before their application to dry ground, which is not, so to 

 spook, their pi"p 



Woody fibre unfermentod is useless as a manure ; and tanner's spent 

 bark, a substance very absorbent and retentive of moisture, is not 



