MANURES AND MANURING 35 



for the light lands. A clay soil requires opening up to the 

 freer passage of water and air, and horse manure contain- 

 ing straw aids substantially to this end. If there is any 

 choice in the matter of manures, let that containing long 

 straw be selected for clay, that with medium straw for the 

 strong loams, and that with short straw for the lighter 

 loams. The applications in each of these instances will 

 presumably be made in the autumn, and the materials may 

 be comparatively fresh as compared with those that would 

 be applied in the spring, since an autumn dressing allows 

 abundance of time for the manure to become sweet before 

 the roots of the plants are working freely in it. The 

 manure that is worked into light soils, or into others which 

 necessity compels the grower to cultivate in the spring, must 

 be thoroughly rotted and perfectly sweet at the time of use. 

 There are, broadly speaking, only two systems of work- 

 ing in the manure. The first is to thoroughly incorporate 

 it with the soil as the digging or trenching proceeds, and 

 the second is to take out trenches and put the manure 

 in these in solid layers. While the latter method may 

 favour the development of longer stems, it also encourages 

 a grossness that is far from being satisfactory, as it shows 

 itself in the flowers, and often gives them that floppy, un- 

 wieldy appearance that very nearly makes the Sweet Pea 

 ugly because it looks so coarse. The worst manure of all 

 for encouraging this undesirable state of affairs is night-soil, 



