26 MANURES. 



Shell lime is the purest and best, but all limes should be 

 used freshly burnt, as when air- slaked they are almost 

 inert. When used alone it should always be applied as a 

 top dressing, and should never be mixed alone with other 

 manures containing ammonia, as it liberates the ammonia, 

 for which reason it should always be accompanied with 

 absorbents when composted with manure. 



Soot is an excellent manure for many vegetables, such 

 as cabbages, melons, onions, etc., as it contains sulphur 

 and also destroys insects. 



Salt is useful as a manure for some vegetables, such as 

 asparagus and sea-kale. It is best applied mixed with 

 the compost used in manuring them, at the rate of a 

 bushel of salt to a cord of compost ; if more than this 

 quantity is used, it will be apt to pickle the manure and 

 so prevent its decomposition. 



Bones are a most excellent manure, but must be dis- 

 solved or be finely ground before being used. Where few 

 bones accrue, as in an ordinary family, and unleached 

 ashes can be had, bones can be dissolved in the following 

 way : Take a large cask, set it in a cool, shady pla.ce, and 

 in it place a layer of bones, four or five inches deep, and on 

 these place a layer of the same depth of the unleached 

 ashes, wetting them with as much water as they will take 

 up without leaching through, and so continue a layer of 

 bones and a layer of ashes alternately. In ten or twelve 

 months they will be dissolved, except, perhaps, a few near 

 the top, which may form the bottom layer for the next year. 

 The bones and ashes should be shoveled out, some more 

 dry ashes added and well mixed together, and the compost 

 is ready to use. A more rapid mode of dissolving them, is 

 to place them in a tub, and moisten them with a solution 

 of one-third their weight of sulphuric acid in five or six 



