54 SATURDAY IN MY GARDEN 



a day for about a week, after which the bag and its contents can 

 be removed and the liquid will be ready for use. In making 

 liquid manure whose ingredients are varied it is necessary to 

 consider the relative values of the different manures employed. 

 It may be stated as a good working rule that sheep and pig 

 manures are richest ; those from the horse coming next ; and, last 

 of all, cow manure. Poultry droppings are far stronger than any 

 of these, and should be used sparingly and with considerable 

 caution. If used separately, one peck of poultry manure will 

 make thirty-six gallons of liquid. 



The great danger to be faced in the use of liquid manures is 

 that of applying them in too strong a condition. A good general 

 test is to dilute them until they attain the colour and consistency 

 of weak tea or light lager beer. It is far better to err on the side 

 of weakness than to run the risk of ruining a plant irretrievably 

 by supplying it with liquid manure that is too powerful. Again, 

 it should only be used when plants are either ripening their 

 fruits or putting forth their flowers that is to say, when the 

 greatest strain is being thrown upon them and they are searching 

 right and left for the plant foods that are to carry them to 

 maturity. It would be suicidal and worse than useless to apply 

 it to tender young seedlings and newly-potted plants in which 

 root action has made little or no progress. Another indispensable 

 rule to be observed is that liquid manures should never be used 

 when the soil is dry or parched. If, for example, it is desired to 

 stimulate the growth of a batch of sweet peas in dry, sunny 

 weather at midsummer, the ground should be well soaked a day 

 previous to that on which liquid manure is supplied to the roots. 

 This rule applies equally to pot plants in a greenhouse as to 

 stronger-growing subjects out of doors. Again the maxim, 

 " little and often," is a sound one to observe in this connection. 

 Study the requirements of the plants it is desired to stimulate ; 

 give stronger doses to gross-feeding subjects like arum lilies and 

 cinerarias than to weaker-growing plants such as palms and 

 cacti, and, above all, stop the use of stimulants altogether as soon 

 as the highest stage of maturity has been reached. 



