28 The Flower Garden [Chapter 



from the kitchen, throwing them into a stone jar, 

 covering them with strong lye, and allowing them to 

 remain until soft enough to be pulverised and dug 

 into the soil. The lye that remains may also be ap- 

 plied to the soil after being diluted with water. Blood 

 obtained at the slaughter-house is an excellent fertil- 

 iser, containing much easily assimilated plant food in 

 a soluble form. Feathers contain much valuable ma- 

 terial in the way of phosphates, but are not suitable 

 for the annual beds. They may be applied to shrubs 

 and hardy perennials by digging them into the ground 

 at a little distance from the plants, where the roots 

 will reach out and find them. Hoof-parings from the 

 blacksmith shop are also valuable for the perennial 

 bed. Indeed, with all the forms of plant food avail- 

 able there is no excuse for starving plants. There 

 are, of course, many commercial plant foods and fer- 

 tilisers on the market, bone-meal and guano being 

 the most reliable among them, but many of them are 

 expensive and uncertain in their action. Being highly 

 concentrated they are likely to do harm in the hands 

 of the inexperienced. The natural manures are the 

 safest. 



In using liquid manures either on the open ground 

 or on potted plants, they should only be applied when 

 the soil has been well watered the day before, never 

 when it is dry. The plant, being supplied with all it 

 needs to drink, absorbs only what it requires for 

 nourishment and is less likely to be injured by an 



