44 — How to Make the Garden Pay. 



most likely is none other than one of the standard sorts they have 

 in their own garden, the only difference being that my ground 

 was manured with one ton per acre of high-grade complete 

 fertilizer, and a good top dressing of composted hen manure, with 

 frequent but very light applications of nitrate of soda, while my 

 neighbors grounds were fed with extravagant quantities of stable 

 compost. The same method of feeding crops has always enabled 

 me to grow celery and other plants, and celery for the table also, 

 in great perfection. 



Every year's experience has added strength to my conviction 

 that in nitrate of soda and well-preserved poultry manure we 

 have the most valuable because most quickening and most 

 effective fertilizing substances within our reach. The former has 

 an especially sure and wonderful stimulating effect on spinach, 

 beets, cabbage, cauliflower, and more or less so on other crops, 

 while poultry manure seems to benefit almost all vegetation 

 more uniformly, but always to a remarkable degree. Let no 

 gardener despise these two manures, or neglect to take advan- 

 tage of every opportunity to procure them whenever they are 

 procurable at a reasonable price. 



The exact amount which the gardener can afford to pay for 

 them depends on their quality and state of preservation. Fresh 

 hen manure, reasonably dry and from well-fed hens, contains in 

 each ton about 



32 lbs. nitrogen, estimated at 16 cents, $5 12 



30 " phosphoric acid at 6 cents, i 80 



16 " potash at 5 cents, 80 



Total value, $'j 72 



This is the value of the clear droppings. Usually there are 

 foreign additions, such as dry soil, muck, sifted coal ashes, or 

 other materials used as absorbents, which always justify a lower- 

 ing of the valuation. If wet and leached, such manure may not 

 be worth half of the figures given. We must take all circum- 

 stances in consideration when attempting to estimate the 

 commercial value of these domestic manures. I only wish to 

 emphasize that poultry manure is worth saving in best condition. 

 Don't use wood ashes or lime as absorbing materials under the 

 perches and on the henhouse floor. They drive out ammonia. 

 Dry muck is best, and an occasional sprinkling of kainit will 

 tend to preserve the ammonia. The kainit also adds potash, 

 with which this kind of manure is less abundantly supplied than 

 with nitrogen and phosphoric acid. 



In cotton-seed meal we have another nitrogenous manure of 

 special value for the market gardener, but as yet very little 

 appreciated or used. A ton contains about 132 lbs. of nitrogen. 



