NITROGEX IN AGRICULTURE. 181 



cabbages. A few days after the}- had broken ground I noticed 

 the very dark color of the leaves, and, mistrusting the cause, ran 

 m}' fingers under the plants, and brought up the pure guano. All 

 that piece was replanted. 



To insure, as far as possible, a thorough admixture with the soil 

 in hill-planting I have a rule for each man, — after the guano has 

 been scattered over a area as large as a dinner-plate, and cov- 

 ered shallow, — to .aw his six-tined fork three times through it one 

 way, three timer .arough it the transverse wa}-, and then, holding his 

 fork perpendicularly in the middle, give it a twist around. Some 

 advocate mixing it with two or three times its bulk of earth before 

 applying. While this insures a thorough mixture, it adds consid- 

 erably to the labor of distribution ; and, since the plan of dragging 

 the cedar-boughs in the drill has worked well, I have adopted that 

 as a saving of time. However, when there is an3-thing of a breeze 

 blowing, it is wise to adopt some such method ; otherwise 3'our 

 neighbors' fields will be apt to share the manure with 3'ours. 



Let me here say, I have found it an excellent plan, when dis- 

 tributing fertilizers, to take the earlier part of the day ; for I find 

 that, as a rule, the calmest portion. It is a good way in handling 

 almost an}' fertilizer except guano, — a little damp soil is best 

 for this, — to have plenty' of water at hand, and pour a half-bucket 

 now and then into the barrel you are spreading from, stirring it 

 then with a hoe until, while dr}' enough to spread freely, it is too 

 damp to blow awaj*. If applying to the surface, always do it, if 

 possible, just before a rain. 



I sometimes use giiano on onions, to hurrj^ up the bottoming of 

 the crops, — about two hundred pounds to the acre. Having 

 scattered it with the hand, immediatel}' follow with a slide-hoe, to 

 work as much of it as possible into the soil, and to save loss of 

 ammonia. This is an excellent fertilizer to use, in connection 

 with barnyard manure, in the earl}' season, to give the crops a 

 start. 



Market gardeners in the vicinity of our large cities have ver}- little 

 respect for phosphate and special fertilizers, but, using from ten 

 to twelve cords of stable manure to the acre, think highly of guano 

 at the rate of a thousand pounds, or bone at the rate of two thou- 

 sand pounds, per acre as an adjunct ; or, when stable manure alone 

 is to be depended upon, they allow from twenty to thirty cords. 

 Assuming the stable manure costs $7 a cord, the expense in the 

 latter case is greater by from $70 to $120 than when guano is used in 



