16 TRUCK-FARMING AT THE SOUTH. 



of his crops, a judicious rotation, and his general ex- 

 perience will teach him, where and when he may econ- 

 omize with profit. He must not, however, gorge his 

 land with manure, without rest or rotation, but seek to 

 make it just rich enough to produce the most profitable 

 crops. Should too much manure be applied, which, 

 however, is rarely the case in vegetable culture, there 

 will be loss of the most costly manurial ingredient 

 nitrogen. Location, or want of facilities and means, 

 frequently confines the gardener to forced limits. Those 

 who are neither conveniently located for the purchase of 

 stable manure, nor own sufficient stock to secure from 

 their droppings a sufficiency of barn-yard manure, must 

 have recourse to manurial agents to be named hereafter. 

 Astonishing results are frequently seen in gardens near 

 large cities, from the readiness such localities offer for 

 procuring the best manures. 



Agriculture being the foundation of the prosperity of 

 every people, and successful agriculture being impossible 

 in the present condition of the earth's surface without 

 fertilizers, it has properly been said, that "manure, even 

 more than money ; forms an integral part of a nation's 

 wealth." 



When civilized nations properly appreciate the value 

 of all manurial substances (as they will when their 

 territory becomes as densely populated as China), none 

 of these, as at present, will be allowed to go to waste, 

 and the productiveness of the earth, and with it the 

 wealth of nations, will be enormously increased. Prog- 

 ress in this direction is being made. Scientific men have 

 pointed out the sanitary and economical necessity of deal- 

 ing properly with excrementitious manurial substances. 

 If, during the past century, the night-soil of many of 

 our cities had been incorporated in the surface soil of 

 the surrounding country, instead of being buried under 

 the houses of their citizens, what would be the fertility 



