i8 FRENCH MARKET-GARDENING 



tamable, and when no strong objections are raised on 

 the question of odour. Many French housewives, with 

 characteristic thrift, never waste any refuse from the 

 house, the poultry run, or the kitchen garden, if it is 

 likely to be at all useful in the culture of vegetables or 

 salads. In fact, anything in the shape of animal or 

 vegetable refuse is carefully preserved, and made into 

 a compost heap mixed with leaves, weeds, and soil. 

 It is then freely and frequently drenched with soapy 

 water on washing days as well as with any other 

 household liquids available. In due course this 

 organic refuse (which is taken away by the dustman 

 in England) becomes converted into a beautiful rich 

 and friable mould. 



Chemical or artificial manures, although now so 

 extensively employed in ordinary gardening practice, 

 are not popular with intensive cultivators. And it is 

 questionable, even in the event of stable manure 

 becoming scarcer owing to the more general adoption 

 of motor-cars, if chemical manures would ever 

 produce the same excellent results that are now 

 secured from hot-beds with their equable and genial 

 warmth. 



The use of hot-water pipes scarcely requires con- 

 sideration for somewhat similar reasons. They dry 

 and bake and parch the soil so regularly, that the 

 tender roots of crops would soon be shrivelled up 

 unless the lights were frequently taken oif to drench 

 the beds with water : and this is a dangerous pro- 

 ceeding during the winter months, and likely to result 

 in total loss of the crops. 



TREATMENT OF A MANURE HEAP. So as to avoid 

 waste and secure the best results, it is necessary to 



