160 KTKSERIBS. 



droppings, when the leaves, &c. are thrown in into the rotting pit, 

 will produce such a compost. Street sweepings are a kind of 

 compost. 



ARTICLE 2 



STRONG MANURES. 



The best known strong manures are (1) farmyard manure, 

 (2) poudrette, (3) bone-dust, (4) guano, (5) saltpetre, (6) urine, 

 (7) blood, and (8) strong composts. The fourth and fifth are hew- 

 ever too expensive in India to be used by the forest nurseryman. 

 Accordingly only the first three and the sixth, seventh and eighth, 

 which will be numbered respectively 4, 5 and 6, will be described. 

 1. FARMYARD MANURE. This is the most generally used of all 

 manures in India and is also the easiest of all to prepare. It is 

 obtained by simply rotting the droppings of sheep, goats and 

 cattle. These droppings could not be used fresh as not only would 

 their inevitable subsequent decomposition heat and injure the roots 

 of the seedlings, and the seed they contain cover the soil with 

 grass and weeds, but they would encourage fungoid growth and 

 invite destructive insects, especially the grubs of cockchafers. As 

 regards the relative value of the droppings of the various animals, 

 those of ruminants are to be preferred, because these, as they chew 

 the cud, masticate their food more completely and pass out the 

 fibrous portions in a finer condition. Amongst ruminants the 

 droppings of cows and goats are preferable to those of buffaloes 

 and sheep : not because buffalo droppings are inferior in nutritive 

 power, but because they feed more coarsely and hence pass their 

 food through in a less well triturated condition, owing to which 

 circumstance their manure attracts white ants. The droppings of 

 sheep are inferior to those of goats, as they generally feed on less 

 concentrated food. Horse dung, owing to the special nature of 

 the food given to that class of stock, is very rich in nitrogenous 

 matter and phosphates, but the mastication of the animal is so im- 

 perfect, that much of the food passes out either undigested or in 

 large coarse particles, thus attracting white ants. Where, how- 

 ever, there are no white ants, the droppings of well-fed horses 

 should be preferred to those of cows for a stiff cold soil, in order to 

 give it a freer texture and greater capacity for absorbing and re- 

 taining heat ; and if the ground is not to be used at once, the 

 manure in question may be worked into the soil before it is fully 

 decomposed, so as to turn its mechanical action to the best advan- 

 tao-e and also to check the excessive fermentation to which horse 



ft * 



dung is liable and to minimise the risk of losing a considerable 



