LECT. i QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 25 



enables it to "hold" the valuable fertilizing nitrates, which 

 escape from very sandy soil more quickly when it is bare than 

 when covered with a green crop. 



Q. Can nothing be applied to light land to improve it, and 

 prevent "drying out," besides farm-yard manure ? 



A. Yes ; agricultural salt is good, because of its great affinity 

 for moisture, and a dressing of 2 ounces to the square yard, or 

 about 4 Ibs. per rod, scattered evenly on the surface immediately 

 after sowing and planting, is good for all crops in dry soils 

 distant from the sea. Another dredging may be given later 

 between the rows of growing crops early in a dry season not on 

 the plants and lightly hoed in. A mixture of kainit, super- 

 phosphate of lime, and nitrate of soda would double the produce 

 of many crops in light porous soil ; but this subject will have 

 attention in another lecture. 



Q. Can fruit be profitably grown in sandy soils ? 



A. Not as a rule, if very sandy ; but a serviceable home 

 supply may be had by covering the ground thickly over the 

 roots with manure in April or early May, to remain through the 

 summer and decay, also by giving liquid manure, including 

 soapsuds and house or bedroom slops, whenever obtainable. 

 Mr. T. Sharpe grows highly profitable crops of strawberries in 

 what resembles a sand-bed, near Virginia Water. Black 

 currants and raspberries are the least likely to succeed in light, 

 dry land. 



Q. How much land can an employed labourer work fairly in 

 his leisure hours ? 



A. That depends on the land and the man. Heavy land 

 needs twice the labour that light land does ; and a man who 

 delights in gardening w T ill do twice the work that another will 

 who takes no pleasure in it. It is better to work twenty rods 

 well than forty badly ; or to have a rood clean, and fertile than 

 an acre slovenly and exhausted. Those men should have the 

 most land who manage it the best, whether it is apportioned in 

 rods to labourers or acres to farmers, because the one class 

 improves and the other depreciates the value of land. 



Q. Do you think a man who is in full and regular employ- 

 ment can manage a rood of land to his advantage in his spare 

 hours ? 



A. Many do this ; but others would be better with half the 

 quantity. A rood ( J acre) of good land well managed will grow 

 from two to three tons of potatoes besides some other crops, and 

 the produce must be of advantage to the tillers. 



Q. Do you know of any instances of working men having 

 allotments of an acre ? 



