MANURES AND FERTILIZERS 



be doubted, indeed, whether the diluting element* 

 water, is not, at least, an equal cause of the fertility 

 which sometimes attends its use, when directly 

 applied. The result either of watering or liquid 

 manuring will be less favourable in a cool season 

 than a hot one; owing to the reduction of tem- 

 perature occasioned by wet applications to the soil. 



A way of procuring liquid manure convenient 

 when a small quantity only is required is to 

 leach solid stable manure as ashes are leached for 

 obtaining lye. For special results, solutions of 

 specific commercial fertilizers are valuable, and 

 are easily made. For instance, liquid nitrate of 

 soda is obtained by dissolving one pound of the 

 nitrate in twelve gallons of water. It is beneficial 

 to all garden crops, though particularly recom- 

 mended for grass plats but its chief value to the 

 vegetable grower is as a destroyer of slugs and 

 other garden pests. 



The most valuable liquid manure is, however, 

 the urine of stabled animals, which when not 

 allowed to run to waste is ordinarily taken up by 

 absorbents kept under the animals, in the stalls 

 or in the cellar beneath them. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, it is conducted by natural flow in gutters and 



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