LECT. x ENCOURAGEMENT AND ENDEAVOUR 147 



be permitted, nor should household slops, as these 

 given to trees and crops do good, and, if thrown on 

 manure heaps, make them richer. 



When there is no manure-heap plant food can be 

 placed in the soil by (1) superphosphate, bonemeal, or 

 basic slag (that give phosphates and lime) ; (2) kainit 

 or wood-ashes (that give potash) ; and (3) nitrate of 

 soda, or sulphate of ammonia (that give nitrogen). 

 The kinds 1 and 2 dissolve slowly, and should be 

 given when (or before) sowing or planting, but the 

 others act quickly, and should be given after 

 growth commences. An ounce of either of the latter 

 to the square yard, and twice the quantity of the 

 other two kinds, would benefit all crops in need of 

 support, provided weeds were not allowed to steal the 

 food applied. 



Now passing to fruit ; a good deal has been said 

 about the pruning of trees, and keeping them clean. 

 The point to remember in pruning is not to let trees 

 and bushes be choked with a crowd of shoots in 

 summer. It is the full action of the air on the 

 leaves at the base of the shoots that makes trees 

 fruitful in character, and they cannot be so if the 

 leaves are thin and weak by overcrowding. Bearing 

 that in mind, it will be seen that much more good 

 may often, if not always, be done by thinning trees 

 in summer, than by cutting back the shoots in winter. 



Some examples of success in growing fruit and 

 other crops have been given of an allotment-holder 

 named Collins, for instance, turning his half acre 

 to such splendid account by growing strawberries and 

 raspberries in Kent. Scores of men have made a 

 profit of ,30 an acre with strawberries in Hampshire, 

 1,500 acres being grown in one district, and 60 tons 

 sent from one station (Botley) in a day. 



Then there is that thrifty allotment-holder at Pet- 



