THE NEW AGRICULTURE. 21 



ones, thrifty growing, and we had somewhere heard that weak brine 

 turned upon the soil was a good thing for cabbage, and having 

 heard also that hen manure was best of all fertilizers, our mind 

 was made up instanter, to show our neighbor the Squire, what 

 could be done in growing cabbages in absence of early rising. Pro- 

 viding ourself therefore with a solution of salt, hen manure, and add- 

 ing ashes and lime as ingredients, we set about rebuking our neigh- 

 bor for even hinting that we were the identical individual pointed 

 out in Proverbs, 6th chapter, 6th verse, etc. 



Rising early each morning for a week, we " doctored" our cab- 

 bages, in confident belief that, in the course of a month or six 

 weeks, we would be able to show neighbor Couch what a boy 

 knew about growing cabbage. It took just six days to kill every 

 plant as dead as so many Egyptian mummies. From that hour, 

 though sticking to theories of liquid manuring, we gave up that sort 

 of " doctoring" which applies it in allopathic doses. 



On page 65 of Mr. Stewart's book on irrigation for the farm, 

 garden and orchard may be found the following : 



" In applying liquid manure it is always necessary to use it in a 

 highly diluted state, even so much diluted that if it would run off 

 perfectly clear it might be found of sufficient strength for all pur- 

 poses. The danger lies in using it of too great strength, rather 

 than in diluting it too copiously." 



We did not mention to our venerable Mentor, the Squire, the re- 

 sults arising from our use of liquid manuring, but we ceaselessly 

 sought the rule to follow in compounding them and what propor- 

 tions of potassium, ammonia, lime, sodium, magnesia and other ele- 

 ments of liquids and solids are required, for this and that crop, in 

 order to obtain the best results. 



Not far from five years subsequent to our experiment in growing 

 cabbage, we found ourself occupying a home on the banks of the 



