FEBTILIZERS. TO 



even if you have t^ sow a separate lot for that purpose. I have tried pcas^ 

 aa a fallow crop for the past three years, and find them the best and cheai>- 

 est substitute for bam-yard manures that the pcor land farmer can find. 

 They are good to sow on the com lauds, at the last working in June, and 

 fallow in when the com is cut off in October; and I have been told, by some 

 old farmers, that they will improve the land just as much if left until the 

 frost kill them, and then fallow, as when fallowed under green. If aU 

 farmers would use every means in their power to feed and improve their 

 lands, we would soon have a different country from the present. 



Bone Da^ for Top Dres:4iMg — In reply to a correspondent who asks if 

 bone dust would not make a good dressing for grass land to be appUed in 

 the fall, the American AgriciJinrist says: " We Think it would be better to 

 compost the bone dust with yard manure and then apply the compost If 

 six or eight cords of this fine compost were appUed to the acre it would only 

 furnish a good dressing of itselt, which the land would be the better for, 

 would act as a sort of mulch or protection for grass roots, and if the soil was 

 at all inclined to 'heave,' it would be a positive benefit. But our corre- 

 spondent must remember that the disadvantage of using bone dmst or 

 ground bone alone, as a fertilizer, is the fact of its slow action. The ni- 

 toogen and phosphoric acid which the bones contain is very slowly rendered 

 available for plants, on account of their insoluble nature; but where the 

 bone dust is added to yard or bam manure as a compost, the bones cause 

 the mass to ferment somewhat, and the heat engendered Uberates the phos- 

 phoric acid and nitrogen, which is absorbed by the manure and given out 

 more quickly to plants when brought in contact with them. Good practice 

 and the last scientific authorities have united in recommending this as the 

 best treatment for ground bone and the best manner of its appUcation to 

 plants. Fifty pounds of ground bone to a cord of manure would be suffi- 

 cient." 



Liquid Manure for Gardening—It is well known that the liqnid ma- 

 nure of animals is more valuable than the solids. In all densely populated 

 cotmtries all these are carefully saved and carried direct to the fields, or 

 stored in tanks for future use. 



In the West, and indeed all over the United States, but little attention ia 

 paid to the liquid wastes of the stables and yards. This has given rise to 

 the saying that " the leaks in the stable are not in the roof." The point is, 

 that it costs but little more in building a stable to provide drainage through 

 which the Uquid manure may safely be carried to a tank or a tight-bottomed 

 pond in the yard, than it docs to leave the whole without drainage, to rot the 

 foundations and saturate the soil beneath. Once conveyed to the place oJ 

 deposit, it may be pumped to the manure pUe, or carried direct to the 

 garden, the meadow, or fields, where it will pay for the labor expended, 

 ten-fold. 



For the garden it is especially valuable, for here the chief expense is in 

 the cultivation. It costs no more to cultivate an acre of thoroughly enriched 

 land than an acre of poor land; in fact, not so much, for on rich soU the 

 vegetation will quickly cover the ground, and thus smother the weeds, 

 while on poorer soil the weeds continue to grow during the whole summer. 

 If no other convenience be at hand, a hogshead may be placed in the wagon, 

 having an orifice at the bottom, to which a hose may be attached, and thus 

 the land may be watered on either side as the team passes through the cen- 

 tral drive, which every garden should have for convenience in hauling in 



