MANURES AND THEIR MODES OF APPLICATION. 193 



MANURES 



AND 



THEIR MODES OF APPLICATION. 



THE subject of Manures is one of the greatest importance 

 to every operator in the soil, whether farmer, market 

 gardener, florist, or such as cultivate only for their own 

 use, for under few conditions can crops be long grown 

 without the use of fertilizers. Although I have already 

 given general instructions about fertilizers in all my works 

 on gardening, yet I find, from the number of inquiries 

 received from even such as have my works, that the mat- 

 ter has not been there treated sufficiently in detail to 

 meet the wants of the varied conditions under which the 

 necessity for the use of fertilizers arises. 



The comparative value of manures must be regulated 

 by the cost; for example, if rotted Stable Manure, whether 

 from horses or cows, can be delivered on the ground at 

 $3 per ton, it is about as valuable, for fertilizing purposes, 

 as Peruvian Guano at $65 per ton, or pure Bone Dust at 

 $40 per ton, and is better than either of these, or any 

 other concentrated fertilizer, from the fact of its mechan- 

 ical action on the land, that is, its assistance, from its 

 light, porous nature, in aerating and pulverizing the soil ; 

 Guano, Bone Dust, or other commercial fertilizers, acting 

 only as such, without in any way assisting to make better 

 what may be called the physical condition of the soil. 



All experienced cultivators know that the first year 

 that land is broken up from sod, if proper culture has 



