134 AUSTRALIAN AGRICULTURE. 



The 50 Ibs. mentioned are made up of ammonia, 

 phosphates, potash, lime, soda, salt, sulphuric acid, &c., 

 and the value of the whole ton of stuff is dependent upon 

 the proportions in which the first three ammonia, 

 phosphates, and potash are in it. We thus see how the 

 value of the manures are reduced to very small quantities 

 when the right materials are present. 



The Time for Manuring. When we have a choice, 

 in order to apply manure with the best effect for nourish- 

 ing what is planted, whether orchard trees or field or 

 garden crops, then just before they start into active growth 

 is the time which gives the most effective results. New 

 feeding roots are being formed then, and the sap for 

 building up the plant for the season is coming forward, and 

 necessary material is being stowed away for the growth of 

 the following season, or for maturing the buds, grain or seed. 

 Next to the time for applying manure, is the selection of 

 the right kind chemically, and its nature in the mechanical 

 sense. The effect of manure substances on soils is very 

 various. Long manure made from the straw and litter of 

 stables is not so suitable for sandy soils, unless it can be 

 used on the surface as a mulch. When dug or ploughed 

 into thin soils, it tends to make the land still more dry, 

 and hence should only be applied to this kind of soil after 

 being thoroughly rotted, or better as part of a compost. 

 What sandy soils require, as a rule, is vegetable matter 

 compost, or thoroughly rotted manure in right condition to 

 supply food to the crop without heating the soil. Leaf 

 mould, bush scrapings, etc., help this compost greatly. 

 Crops on sandy soils, when the right manure is there for 

 them, use it up very fast, and hence the apparent dis- 

 appearance of manure in such soils is accounted for. It 

 goes quickly into the crop, if in a soluble state, and the best 

 results are got when the crop can take it up at once. But 

 loamy soils and clays, on the contrary, store up and digest 

 manure, and are able to hold it until it is given up to the 

 roots. The reason why manure is more quickly eaten out 

 from sandy soils is that they contain less food material for 

 the roots. They are more porous and eat more than the 

 clayey soils. Root action is more rapid in them. That 



