FERTILIZERS COTTON-SEED MEAL. 25 



that I never saw equaled but once, and that was in 1876, of 

 which more anon. 



Only the man who has a genuine love for gardening can 

 appreciate my feelings when I went out, on clear, calm morn- 

 ings, to watch the first rays of the sun gleam down the long 

 rows of great plants, with their ten and fifteen-pound heads, 

 as regular as pig tracks down a lane, and nestling in a wilder- 

 ness of rich, dark leaves, silvered over with the sparkling dew. 

 That I had the "world by the tail and a down-hill pull," I felt 

 sure, and I did for a few years, only to find out later on that 

 the pull was the other way, and I couldn't let go. 



Well, the cabbage was cleared off at the biggest kind of 

 prices, and the whole block planted down in spring to the 

 old-time red-seed and white-rind "island" melon, and as an 

 experiment, for I began experimenting then, and have never 

 quit to this day, I manured the balance of the 2^/2 acres 

 with barnyard manure in the hills only. While this turned 

 out to be a first-class experiment, it cost heavily, as the yield 

 in size and number of melons on the cabbage ground far 

 exceeded that on the other. This was due to the great 

 amount of fruit-producing element, phosphoric acid, left over 

 from the guano on the former. As we all know, that element, 

 potash and nitrogen, commonly known in the form of ammo- 

 nia, are the three main constituents of plants, and the only 

 elements of plant food it ever becomes really necessary to 

 supply. While lime also enters largely into their composi- 

 tion, it is found so abundant in all soils except pure sand 

 that its use, except on ground made over-rich for years with 

 barnyard manure, is unnecessary. As a corrective of what is 

 known as humic acid in such soils, it is very valuable, and, 

 with an application of hardwood ashes, would regenerate the 

 flower and vegetable gardens of Galveston City and Island, 

 many of which have been dosed to death with animal ma- 

 nures. 



While this digression may seem to have no connection 

 with the eel worm, it has, most intimately, and, to bring it out 

 more clearly, a few further remarks in the same line are nec- 

 essary. While ammonia, potash and phosphoric acid, with 



