GENERAL PRACTICE. MANURES. 43 



manures. Some soils arc; better suited to the cultivation of fruit than are others, still 

 it is not a question of natural suitability, but of making unsuitable soils favourable 

 to the production of profitable crops by an admixture of ingredients. This is necessary 

 for the successful culture of fruit trees. It is not even a matter of choice of ground with 

 many cultivators. The amateur in choosing a residence must be guided more by the 

 convenience of location to his business and salubrity of situation than of advantages in 

 soil. Sometimes this is the best thing that could happen, for soils that are naturally 

 poor and ill adapted for fruit culture are made artificially better suited thereto than are 

 those by nature rich. In many cases what is lost in soil is gained by advantage in 

 climate, so that the anomaly is not infrequent of the profitable cultivation of fruits in 

 an artificial soil, and partial or complete failure where the natural soil is of the best 

 possible staple but exhausted. 



Before being able to apply manures to the greatest advantage we must understand 

 their nature, and how they stand in relation to the soil ; but it is necessary to say here 

 that the soil fixes and secures part of the manure only against loss ; other portions, and 

 those the most valuable, are not held by the soil, but are liable to be washed away by 

 rain. The following are the chief manurial ingredients required by fruit trees : 



Lime. Limestones are hardly ever pure, generally containing sand and clay. In chalk 

 also much clay exists, but limestones invariably contain sulphate and phosphate of lime, 

 the sulphate seldom in this country amounting to more than four-fifths per cent., and 

 phosphate in some samples 1 per cent. In burnt lime the 1 per cent, phosphate is 

 equal to 2^ Ibs. in the hundred, adding considerably to the value of the lime. Magnesian 

 limestone contains less phosphate, varying from 0'07 to 015 per cent. Carbonate of 

 magnesia is present in the purest limestone to the extent of 1 to 2 per cent. ; some 

 impure limestones contain 40 per cent. ; and mountain limestone, or dolomite, contains 

 40 to 45 per cent. 



Lime containing much magnesia possesses burning or scorching qualities, yet mag- 

 nesia may be wanting in the soil ; hence lime made from magnesian limestone may be 

 peculiarly valuable. It is particularly useful in peaty soils, but on ordinary soil it is 

 well to use it experimentally for a year or two to ascertain whether it may be given with 

 advantage, for magnesian lime cannot be applied with safety in quantities sufficient to 

 such soils as most need liming. 



Lime is applied burnt and unburnt. Marls and chalk, also shell sand, are applied 

 unburnt, their mechanical condition admitting of easy pulverisation and distribution. 



G2 



