MANURES. 29 



be rotted down very slowly, for if allowed to ferment 

 strongly they lose a large portion of their value. It is best, 

 perhaps, to compost them with stable manure. 



Street sweepings are very uncertain in their strength, 

 and we place but little value upon them as a fertilizer, the 

 manure being in very uncertain proportions to the sand 

 and earth swept up with it. It besides has generally its 

 strength dried out or washed out before being swept up. 

 When dried it makes a good absorbent for the compost 

 heap. 



Gypsum, or plaster, is not of much value to garden 

 crops, except as an ingredient in the compost heap, where 

 its facility of absorbing ammonia renders it of great value. 



Sulphur has lately been recommended as a manure for 

 all plants of the cabbage family, for which we have no 

 doubt it may prove of value. It has been applied hi the 

 form of flour of sulphur, at the rate of six to eight pounds 

 per acre. Sulphuric acid is sometimes used on limestone 

 soils at the rate of thirty to forty pounds, diluted with two 

 hundred times its weight of water, or two gallons to three 

 or four hundred gallons of water. 



Spent tan-bark and sawdust will make good manure, 

 when treated with the lime and salt mixture already 

 described. It neutralizes any injurious acids that may be 

 in them. But it is better to use such materials as these, 

 sea-weed and similar matters, as bedding for the animals, 

 as they largely absorb the urine from them. 



In applying manure to the soil, never apply more than 

 may be judged sufficient for the present crop, as it is poor 

 economy to bury your capital in the soil. This is especially 

 the case in light sandy soils. Manures should also be 

 alternated that is to say, the same sort of manure should 

 not be continuously applied to the same piece of land, but 



