, TflEIE KttffcS AKD tTSES. 



danger of loss, besides the expense of time and labor. 

 The general agriculturist, particularly on heavy soils, 

 whose crops are of Blower growth, may apply manure 

 green or fresh from the stables, when its effects are often 

 so permanent as to be perceptible for many years ; but the 

 market-gardener's aim is to produce early crops of veg- 

 etables, and his manures must be in a readily available 

 condition. He wants no permanent manures. Perma- 

 nence and insolubility are, in this case, synonymous. 

 Luxuriant growth is an indication of the solubility of his 

 fertilizers. He wants his manure pile to undergo such 

 an amount of slow fermentation, as to break down the 

 coarse fibrous vegetable matter it contains, so as to admit 

 its being readily cut with a spade, and thus also to reduce 

 its bulk. 



COMPOSITION OF FRESH AND DECOMPOSED STABLE MANURE. 



If piled so loosely as to admit air freely and be suffi- 

 ciently moist, it will undergo fermentation so rapidly as 

 to heat or firefang, and large quantities of the valuable, 

 volatile carbonate of ammonia will evaporate, and the 

 manure be rendered comparatively valueless. To avoid 

 this too rapid fermentation, the pile may be broken 

 down and turned whenever it begins to heat, until the 

 process ceases to be too active. The escape of ammonia 

 may be checked by mixing land plaster (sulphate of 

 lime) with each load, so as to fix the ammonia as a sul- 

 phate (which is not volatile). The gardener near the 



