56 GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



generally be found perfectly fine when the material of the 

 bed is removed. They can also, at any time, be further 

 broken up by composting with hot stable manure, cover- 

 ing the mass with absorbents to retain the ammonia of 

 the gelatine and manure. 



Night Soil and chamber slops should be composted as 

 before directed with charcoal, or the black mould from 

 woods. Gypsum may be added to the mixture ; all smell 

 is thus destroyed, and an offensive nuisance is converted 

 into a valuable application to any crop. Where charcoal 

 is freely used, this substance becomes perfectly inodorous. 

 Guano and poudrette are the best possible manures for 

 the cabbage tribe and other plants that need phosphates 

 and nitrogen. Both these manures are exceedingly pow- 

 erful, but their effects do not last beyond one season. The 

 fertilizing properties exist in the right proportions to be 

 taken up at once by the plants, and nearly all their nutri- 

 tive properties are exhausted the season they are applied. 

 If in a hole or dry ditch are deposited all the leaves or 

 vegetable refuse that can be collected, and over this is 

 poured daily the house slops, and all smell prevented by 

 the timely application of charcoal or woods earth, a com- 

 post is formed exactly similar in its constituents to farm- 

 yard manure, and containing all the eight substances by 

 which plants are artificially fed. (Lindley.) 



Liquid Manure. Almost any manure may be applied 

 to the soil with benefit in a liquid state. It generally im- 

 plies urine or the drainings of dung heaps and stables, 

 chiefly consisting of urine and the dissolved excrements 

 of animals. Diluted more or less as required, it can be 

 applied about once a week to plants in any stage of 

 growth, and is particularly useful to those grown in pots. 

 The soil should not be oversaturated with it, and it should 

 be used alternately with pure water. DC not give it to 

 plants in a state of rest. 



