Gardening for Amateurs 



ARTIFICIAL MANURES FOR FRUITS 



Apple, Pear, and Plum. Peat moss 

 litter, well saturated with urine, should be 

 top dressed on the soil and dug in ; 3 oz. 

 basic slag should be added in winter per 

 square yard and 2 oz. nitrate of potash in 

 April. Bone manures and guanos are good 

 for all fruit trees ; J oz . sulphate of iron 

 per square yard keeps off many fungoid 

 diseases. 



Currant. Add plenty of organic manure 

 for heavy crops ; spread the dung round the 

 roots in January, and dig it in during 

 March. The wash from a manure heap is 

 good for Currants. Apply 3 oz. to 4 oz. per 

 bush of a mixture of 4 parts bone manure, 

 2 parts kainit, and 1 part sulphate of 

 ammonia. Don't dig too deeply. 



Raspberry. Manure with dung in 

 autumn and apply 2 oz. basic slag and 

 1 oz. kainit per bush in winter. Feed with 

 liquid manure in summer for large crops. 



Strawberry. Mulch with horse manure 

 or peat litter in autumn, and spread 3 oz. 

 dissolved bones and 1 oz. sulphate of 

 ammonia in spring over each square yard 

 of the bed. 



ARTIFICIAL MANURES FOR VEGETABLES 

 Potato. Three barrowloads dung per 



square pole and 3 Ib. superphosphate, 1 Ib. 



sulphate of ammonia, 1 Ib. sulphate of 



potash. 



Turnip. Two barrowloads dung, 2 Ib. 



kainit, 4 Ib. superphosphate, Ib. sulphate 



of ammonia per square pole. Dress the 



soil with gypsum or lime in winter, and 

 spread J Ib. of nitrate of soda per square 

 pole after thinning. 



Cabbage. Five barrowloads of dung 

 per square pole at least, and a pinch of 

 nitrate of soda on at least three occasions, 

 after the plants are established, should be 

 dropped beside eacli Cabbage. 



Asparagus. Mulch well with manure in 

 autumn ; apply 3 oz. kainit per square yard 

 or per 3 yards length of row in April, and 

 a little superphosphate and nitrate of soda, 

 say about 3 oz. per square yard after cut- 

 ting has ceased. 



Broccoli. Four barrowloads dung, 2 Ib. 

 superphosphate, and 2 Ib. kainit per square 

 pole, with 2 Ib. nitrate of soda applied in 

 four dressings when the plants are small. 



Lettuce. Lots of dung and occasional 

 watering with 1 teaspoonful of nitrate of 

 soda dissolved in 1 gal. water. 



Carrot and Parsnip. Grow in a rich 

 soil, but apply no fresh manure except a 

 light dressing of nitrate of soda after thin- 

 ning. 



Summer Spinach. Dung and nitrate of 

 soda, as advised for Lettuce. 



Rhubarb. Cover with dung containing 

 plenty of straw, in October, and apply 1 oz. 

 superphosphate and \ oz. nitrate of soda 

 per large crown after the first crop is 

 removed. 



A Good General Fertiliser. Four 

 parts superphosphate or dissolved bones, 3 

 parts kainit (or 1 part sulphate of potash 

 and 1 part ammonia or nitrolim) 



Lime in Gardens. Most people have a 

 hazy notion that lime is useful as a dressing 

 for the soil, but how it is beneficial is known 

 to few ; consequently harm is often done 

 by applying it in excess. The chief value 

 of lime lies in its power of rendering various 

 plant foods contained in the soil available 

 for use by the plant, whereas without its 

 application the food would probably remain 

 " locked up," in other words, unavailable. 

 Hence the results are most noticeable when 

 lime is applied to old garden soils that have 

 been regularly manured, and in such soils 

 it also tends to correct sourness caused by 



continual manuring. It will thus be seen 

 that lime applied to a garden that has been 

 neglected in the matter of manuring, although 

 probably giving good result* the first year, 

 would make the soil poorer if manure were 

 not added also, and for this reason it is 

 suicidal to dress ground with lime year after 

 vi-.ir. osjMTially if it is used as a substitute 

 for manure. The lime contained in old 

 mortar rul>l>i-ti i- c\< IN-nt for most fruit 

 trees, especially stow fruits such as Plums, 

 lVa-i, ( -. A|iri-.,t N'.'.-t. ifiii.^ and < 'ln-rrirs. 

 therefore mix it thoroughly with the soil 

 before planting. 



