CONCENTRATED FERTILISERS 37 



obtained simply because the manure at command is poor 

 in quality. When natural manure is stacked in heaps and 

 exposed for months to the weather, somewhere about three 

 parts of its food virtues are washed out of it before it is put 

 into the soil. It should always be stacked under cover, 

 where it is impossible for the rains to pass through it, and 

 the liquid which naturally drains out of it must be saved 

 for future use. 



In the possible event, then, of the manure being poor, 

 the grower must turn to the concentrated fertilisers to 

 provide compensation. The usual practice is to apply 

 these when the soil is being finally prepared in the spring, 

 but they can be used in the autumn, and in certain circum- 

 stances will then give superior returns. It is, however, 

 essential that whatever is applied at that season of the 

 year shall be slow in yielding up its food properties, 

 or the value of the application will be almost wholly lost 

 to the plants. As a simple dressing for Sweet Peas there 

 is nothing better than basic slag, finely ground, and used 

 at the rate of 10 to 12 Ibs. to the square rod, and even 

 more where the dressing of dung is light and its quality 

 inferior. This will not meet all the requirements of the 

 plants, since it gives no appreciable amount of potash, which 

 is essential to the finest results, therefore it must be supple- 

 mented with kainit at the rate of 6 to 8 Ibs. to the rod. 

 This latter salt is valuable as a soil cleanser as well as 



