10 MARKET GARDENING 



Humus, or rotted vegetable matter, is indispensable for 

 the successful growing of vegetables or any other crop. 

 Humus makes the soil more friable, helps it to hold moisture, 

 lightens a heavy soil and makes more retentive a light soil. 



A soil deficient in humus is hard to work, bakes quickly 

 after a rain, is slow to warm up in the spring and is very 

 unfavorable for the use of chemical fertilizer. If humus 

 is not present in a soil, the chemical fertilizer applied 

 will largely be lost. The addition of humus renders the 

 soil fit for the use of chemical fertilizers, and furnishes a 

 condition favorable for certain chemical changes which 

 constantly go on in the soil, and for certain friendly bacteria. 



Other manures used in vegetable growing are sheep 

 manure, hen manure, cow manure and hog manure. Hen 

 and sheep manures are rich in nitrogen and their store of 

 plant food is quickly available; they are valuable for use 

 as a top dressing or for crops requiring unusual amounts 

 of nitrogen. They are " hot " manures and must be used 

 with care else the crops may be damaged by burning. Cow 

 and hog manure are cold manures, their content of plant 

 food is slow to become available except when they are well 

 rotted. 



10. Composting. It is not generally desirable to apply 

 fresh horse manure to land intended for growing vegetables. 

 Fresh manure tends to the production of top at the expense 

 of the root in many crops. The general practice in using 

 stable manure is to compost it for a considerable time 

 before applying it to the soil. Rotted or partly rotted 

 stable manure has it? store of plant food in a quickly 

 available condition, which is very desirable in growing 

 vegetables. The plant food contained in fresh manure 

 is not so quickly available except the nitrogen in the form 

 of ammonia. 



