86 



MAN 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



MAN 



the rich kinds of wood-ashes are too stimulating, and are 

 best used in a compost with earth and dung, or any animal 

 substances. They effectually correct sour soils ; conse- 

 quently upon poor meadows, or rushy grounds, they produce 

 effects similar to lime; and if mixed with quick lime, their 

 beneficial effects will be heightened. Coal-ashes, are well 

 adapted to clays and deep loams, by breaking the tenacity 

 of the soil. On light soils they should never be used but in 

 the form of a compost with earth, or earth and dung. From 

 fifty to sixty bushels is a complete dressing for a statute acre; 

 and they are of great use in a kitchen-garden, where the 



natural soil is too strong and stubborn. COMPOSTS, are 



rarious, and ought to be different according to the different 

 nature or quality of the soils which they are designed to meli- 

 orate ; and according as the land is either light, sandy, 

 loose, heavy, clayey, or cloddy. A light loose sand requires 

 a compost of a heavy nature, as the scouring of deep ditches, 

 ponds, &c. A heavy land requires a manure of a lighter 

 nature, that will insinuate itself into the lumpish clods. 

 For Gardens. The great use of composts in gardening is for 

 such plants as are preserved in pots or tubs; or in small 

 beds, or borders of flower-gardens. As some plants delight 

 it a rich light soil, others in a poor sandy soil, and some in 

 a loamy soil, there should be different composts prepared in 

 all those gardens, where a great variety of plants are culti- 

 vated; and this is much more necessary in countries at a 

 great distance from London, than in the neighbourhood of 

 it, because there is so great a variety of lands within ten miles 

 round London, which have been so long dressed and culti- 

 vated, that a supply of earth fit for all sorts of plants may be 

 easily procured; but in some places which are at a distance 

 from large towns, it is very difficult to procure a quantity of 

 earth proper for the choicer sorts of flowers and plants; 

 therefore the composts will require more care, and should be 

 mixed a considerable time longer before they are used, that 

 they may have the advantage of heat and cold to soften 

 and improve them; and should be frequently turned over, 

 that the parts may be well mixed and incorporated, and the 

 clods well broken and divided. Almost every one who has 

 written upon this subject has directed the procuring the 

 upper surface of earth from a pasture ground, as one of the 

 principal ingredients in most composts for plants; which is 

 certainly a very good one, provided it has time to incorporate 

 before it is used: for if this be mixed up hastily, and put into 

 pots or tubs before it has had a winter's frost, and summer's 

 heat, to loosen the parts effectually, it will unite and cake 

 together so hard as to starve the plants that are put into it. 

 For all earth, when put into pots or tubs, is much more apt 

 to bind than when it is in beds ; therefore it should be in 

 proportion made looser, according to the nature of the plants 

 for which it is designed, than when it is intended for beds or 

 borders. So that if this earth from a pasture cannot be pre- 

 pared and mixed at least one year before it is used, it will be 

 much better to take the earth of a kitchen-garden which has 

 been well wrought and dunged; but this should be clear 

 from all roots of trees and bad weeds. If this earth be well 

 mixed with the other composts six months, and often turned 

 over, it will be better for pots and tubs than the other will 

 in twice that time. This earth, being the principal ingre- 

 dient in those composts designed for such plants as require 

 a rich soil; the next is to have a quantity of very rotten 

 dung, from old hot-beds; or for those plants which delight 

 in a cool soil, a quantity of rotten cow-dung is preferable. 

 The proportion of this must be according; to the quality of 

 the earth; for if that be poor, there should be one third part 

 of dung; but if it be rich, a fourth part or less will be suf- 



ficient. These, when well incorporated, and the parts divided, 

 will require no other mixture, unless the- earth be inclinable 

 to bind, in which case it will be proper to add some sand, 

 or sea-coal ashes, to it : if sea-sand can be procured, that is 

 best, and the next to it is drift-sand; but the sand procured 

 from pits is by no means proper. The proportion of this 

 must be according to the nature of the earth, for if that be 

 stiff there must be a greater proportion used, but this should 

 not exceed a fifth part, unless it is very strong, in which case 

 it will require more, and a longer time to lie, and must be 

 often turned over before it is used. The next compost, which 

 is designed for plants which do not require so good earth, 

 and naturally grown on loose soils, should be half of the before- 

 mentioned earth from a pasture, or that from a kitchen-garden ; 

 and if these are inclinable to bind, there should be a third part 

 sand, the other part rotten tan, which will be of great use to 

 keep the parts divided, and let the moisture pass off. The 

 composition for most of the succulent plants, is prepared with 

 the following materials : the earth from a common, where it is 

 light, taken on the surface, one half, the other half sea or 

 drift sand, and old lime-rubbish screened, of equal parts; 

 these, well-mixed, and often turned over, form the best of 

 all composts for the very succulent plants. The other sort 

 of compost, which is designed for plants that delight in a 

 very loose, light, rich earth, should be made of light earth, 

 taken from a kitchen-garden which has been well dunged 

 and thoroughly wrought, like those near London, one half; 

 of rotten tanner's bark, one-third ; and the other part mud 

 from the scouring of ditches, or from the bottom of ponds 

 where the soil is fat; but this mud should lie exposed in small 

 heaps a whole year, and be often turned over, before it is 

 mixed with the other, and afterwards frequently turned and 

 mixed for eight months or a year, before it is used. In all 

 mixtures, where rotten wood may be required, if the rotten, 

 tanner's bark, taken from old hot-beds, be used, that will 

 answer every purpose of the other: and wherever sand is 

 necessary in any compost, the sea-sand should always be 

 preferred to all other; but this should not be used fresh, 

 because the salts should be exposed to the air, which will 

 loosen the particles, and thereby render them better adapted 

 to the nutriment of vegetables. There are some who have 

 directed the use of rotten leaves of vegetables as an excellent 

 ingredient in most composts; but they are of little use, and 

 contain the least quantity of vegetable pasture of any kind of 

 dressing. Others, who never had any experience in the 

 culture of plants, have directed different composts for almost 

 every plant ; and these composts consist of such a variety of 

 ingredients as greatly to resemble the prescriptions of a quack 

 doctor: no person conversant in the business of gardening, 

 could commit such gross absurdities, for it is well known 

 that a few different composts will be sufficient for all the 

 known plants in the world. Those who pretend to give 

 direction for the culture of plants from theory only, begin at 

 the wrong end; for the true knowledge of gardening or agri- 

 culture must be from experience. In making any compost, 

 great care should be had that the several parts are properly 

 mixed together ; not to have too much of any one sort : 

 therefore when three or four several sorts are to be mixed 

 together, there should be a man or two placed to each sort, 

 in proportion to the quantity ; for if two parts of any one sort 

 are requisite to be added, there should be two men put to 

 that, and but one to each of the other: and these men must 

 be instructed carefully to spread each sort in such a manner 

 over the other, as that they may be exactly mixed together. 

 Another thing which should be observed is, never to lay 

 these composts in too large heaps ; but rather continue them 



