WITH REFERENCE TO HORTICULTURE. 15 



of stable-dung may be made to produce twenty, a hundred, or in short 

 an unlimited number of loads of fermented peat. The peat of decayed 

 wood is commonly reduced to mould by exposure and turning, and 

 then applied to the soil, with or without lime. Both kinds of peat are 

 frequently burned for the sake of their ashes. The ashes of the peat 

 of wood are always found richer in alkaline matters than those of the 

 peat of moss, and on this account they form an article of commerce in 

 the neighbourhood of Newbury in Berkshire, and in Holland. A 

 third kind of peat, more properly called heath-soil, is much used 

 in the culture of all fine hair-rooted plants, such as heaths. It is 

 the result of the decay of vegetation and the decomposition of 

 rocks, and is generally sweet and ready for present use, because 

 found only on upland districts, where there is no standing water. 

 We associate peat with the morass ; this heath-soil, with the upland 

 moor or heath. 



The principal vegetable manures which are formed in suburban 

 villas are : the mould of collected leaves swept up in autumn, and in all 

 seasons when they fall ; the mould of grass mown from lawns, and either 

 rotted by itself, or on dung-casings to forcing-pits ; and the mould from 

 the common vegetable rubbish heap ; that is from a heap on which all 

 decaying or refuse vegetable matters are thrown as taken from the 

 garden, and sometimes, also, including the leaves of trees and short 

 grass. This heap is, or should be, placed in the reserve ground of all 

 gardens. The grass mown from lawns, however, is most economically 

 added to casings of dung to aid in producing heat by fermentation, as 

 it is laid on dug surfaces round the roots of plants during summer to 

 retain moisture. The leaves also are generally best kept by themselves, 

 for the purpose of decaying into leaf-mould. In whatever way these 

 vegetable materials are made use of, the gardener ought to have a 

 vigilant eye to see that none of them are lost ; and one of the simplest 

 and best means of doing so, is to cover all such rubbish heaps fre- 

 quently with thin layers of soil, to prevent the escape of the nutritive 

 gases. 



Animal manures require much less preparation than those derived 

 from plants, from their greater tendency to the putrefactive process. 

 The kinds of animal manures are chiefly excrement ; urine ; coverings 

 of animals, such as skins, wool, feathers ; entrails of animals ; entire 

 animals of small size and not otherwise useful, such as fish, vermin, &c. ; 

 parts of animals, such as skins, bones, Arc. ; or articles manufactured 

 from parts of animals, such as woollen rags, old leather ; or any article 

 manufactured from skins, hair, wool, feathers, horn, bone, &c. Of all 

 these manures by far the most valuable is nightsoil, the next urine, and 

 thirdly bones. The different excrements and urines of animals rank 

 in value according to the kind of food with which the animal is 

 nourished, and within this limit according to its grade ; and hence the 

 most valuable animal manure is that of man, the next that of horses as 

 abounding with ammonia and nitrogen. The manure of the horse 

 ranks before that of the cow or the sheep ; and the manure of highly- 

 fed animals before that of those which are lean. 



