VEGETABLE PLANTS. 59 



cessary in a special or general fertilizer. First 

 we obtained one ton of fine diy hen manure, 

 this, at $20 per ton, being our cheapest source 

 of ammonia. Next, one ton of muriate of pot- 

 ash, at $50. Third, one ton of fine dissolved 

 bone, at 35. These three substances were 

 finely compounded, and mixed with three tons 

 of gypsum or plaster. One or two barrels of 

 this mixture per acre, sowed upon wheat in 

 early spring, gave, upon a piece of old land, 

 where oats the previous year were scarcely 

 worth harvesting, the most bountiful yield we 

 ever grew. Twice that quantity sowed upon 

 a piece of ground which had not received a 

 coating of stable manure in fifteen years, gave 

 us as rank a growth of cabbage plants as we 

 desire to see. We seldom venture the experi- 

 ment of putting such manures in the hill, but 

 always prefer sowing broadcast, and lightly har- 

 rowing in. 



But users of these concentrated commercial 

 fertilizers must ,not for a moment think that 

 they are going to entirely take the place or per- 

 form the functions of stable manure. They 

 will not. The amount of soluble plant food 

 contained in a load of stable manure is by no 

 means the extent of its value. The mechanical 



