AUXILIARY AND EXCEPTIOJ^AL MANURES. 95 



for gardens and fields. The system, lit enough for insti- 

 tutions where discipline prevails, is hardly applicable to 

 large towns, where it would entail the bringing in dry 

 earth to the amount of from five to ten pounds for each 

 individual daily. 



The Liquid Manure of the Farm is the drainings or 

 the washings from the farm-yard manure. The best use 

 that can be made of it probably is to return it to the dung 

 heap, where means should be devised for its absorption or 

 retention. If allowed to flow away from the cattle sheds 

 or from the manure pile, it should be collected m tanks. 

 From the coUectinsr tanks it mav be distributed over the 

 land by a watering-cart, when the area is small. On a 

 larger scale, pipes are laid underground in the field, and 

 the manure distributed either by gravitation or by pump- 

 ing. The gravitation system is the only practicable one 

 on the score of expense. Liquid manure is chiefly valu- 

 able for the rapidity with which it produces its effect. It 

 is well adapted to light sandy soils, but a failure on heavy 

 clays. It is also more suitable for grass and root crops 

 than for grain crops. By its use grass may be cut six or 

 eight times in the course of a year. 



Application of Manures. — The tendency of modern 

 practice in manuring is to use readily soluble and quick- 

 acting manures, but to use them sparingly at a time. 

 Little and often is the rule. 



In applying fertilizers of a soluble character, it is found 

 economical to manure the plant rather than the soil. 

 The practice is especially applicable to mangels, cab- 

 bages, and other drilled crops, where the plants are a con- 

 siderable distance apart in the rows. The manure is de- 

 posited by the drill along the line of each plant row, and 

 immediately covered in. Manures which are not so read- 

 ily soluble produce the best effect when intimately mixed 



