No. 8. 



Kitchen Garden. 



245 



chemical process, as the common earths. 

 This is another species of concentrated ma- 

 nure nearly as powerful as bone-dust; more 

 operative upon a first crop, but less durable 

 in its effects. It is tiie most efficient, m its 

 immediate effects, of any manure we liave 

 tried. It is applied at tlie rate of forty bush- 

 els or less to tlie acre, upon all arable crops, 

 to be sown broadcast, superficially covered, or 

 placed in the hill or drill of hoed crops. It 

 has long been used about Paris, has become 

 an article of commerce, and is transported to 

 every part of the interior. Manufactories of 

 poudrette have been established in the vicini- 

 ty of New York, and the demand for the arti- 

 cle increases with the supply. Like manu- 

 factories will, no doubt, ere long be estab- 

 lished near all our large cities; and thus, 

 what would be otherwise a nuisance, and the 

 indirect cause of disease and death, will be 

 converted into vegetable food, and become a 

 source of comfort and of wealth. Let not the 

 sensitive start at this suggestion — the choicest 

 delicacies of the table come from a nauseous 

 mass of animal and vegetable putrefaction ! 



Urelte is animal urine, absorbed and ren- 1 

 dered dry by mixture with calcareous earth. 

 It possesses the like fertilizing virtues as 

 poudrette, and is applied in a similar way, and 

 with very similar effect. 



Woollen rags, and the flocks and sweep- 

 ings of woollen factories, constitute a highly- 

 concentrated manure, and are procured in 

 considerable quantities at the woollen mills. 



Fish are converted into a valuable manure, 

 and are a main dependance of fertility on 

 «ome parts of Long Island, and other districts 

 near the margin of the sea. These are most 

 economically used in the form of a compost — j 

 the earth with which they are blended ab-i 

 sorbing the volatile parts, and permitting a \ 

 snore equal distribution of the fertilizing mat- j 

 ters upon the soil. 



Sea-weed, or sea-drift, which is so oflen 

 thrown upon the beach in immense quantities 

 during a storm, is beneficially employed as a 

 manure, not only on account of its vegetable, 

 but of its saline properties. It is employed 

 in composts, in litter tor cattle-yards, or is 

 ploughed in in a green state. 



Peat earth, or swamp muck, is vegetable 

 ft)od, in an insoluble state, and requires only 

 such a chemical change as shall render it 

 soluble, to convert it into active manure. 

 This change may be effected in the cattle- 

 yard, in the compost heap, or by admixture, 

 "with alkaline substance?, as lime, ashes, &c. j 

 This earth is generally insoluble m thej 

 places where it is deposited, especially when' 



being brongiit in contact with fermenting 

 animal or vegetable matters. — liuil's Farm- 

 er's Companion. 



ICItcUcii Gartlt-n. 



A vegetable garden should be in a warm 

 situation ; inclosed by a close board fence or 

 stone wall, which serves to protect it from 

 cold winds, to concentrate the rays of the 

 sun, and to secure shade. The shape should 

 be a parallelogram, or oblong, and the beds of 

 the same shape, to facilitate the use of the 

 hand cultivator. The north and west sides 

 should be the lightest and warmest soil. Un- 

 less the fence is sufficiently hiirh to prevent 

 fowls from flying over, it would add greatly 

 to the certainty of realizing the productions 

 of the garden to have it located at a distance 

 fi-om the barn and hen roost. 



Some variety in the soil is desirable — also, 

 varying from wet to dry, preserving, however, 

 the general characteristic of a sandy loam, 

 deep, rich, well worked, and retentive of 

 moisture. 



A soil too sandy is improved by the appli- 

 cation of cow manure, lime, and clay ; and 

 one too adhesive, by horse manure, lime, and 

 sand. To give permanency to the fertility 

 of a soil, and to secure healthy vegetation, 

 mineral manures should be occasionally ap- 

 plied. 



The time of putting the seed in the ground 

 depends on the season, the nature of the 

 plants, and their acquired or established ha- 

 bits, or qualities. Some seasons are two or 

 three weeks earlier than others. Some vege- 

 tables will not do well unless they have op- 

 portunity to make progress by the first vernal 

 warmth; others become sickly if planted 

 early. To preserve the qualities of particu- 

 lar varieties, much attention should be paid 

 to the history of their culture. Corn, for in- 

 stance, that ripens in less than a hundred 

 days by planting the last of May, or first of 

 June, should not be planted earlier; this 

 would be the same as transfering from a 

 warm to a cold climate, tending to alter the 

 habits of the plants, and to increase the num- 

 ber of days in ripening. Late planting and 

 rapid maturity are objects of improvement. 

 They both increase the certainty of crops, 

 lesson labour, and probably impoverish tlie 

 soil less. 



Those seeds ripening first and having other 

 desirable qualitie.s, should be carefully gath- 

 ered. The certainty and continuance of the 

 vegetative power of seeds depend greatly on 

 being fully ripe, well secured, and preserved 

 from too much confinement, heat, and damp- 



saturated with water. It sometimes is ren-[jness. Some, however, lose their vegetative 



dered soluble by thorough draining, and by | properties much sooner than others. 



the admixture of sand or loam, and always by il Parsnep, rhubarb, and other very thin and 



