198 SOILS AND MANURES 



With the exception of peas and beans, garden crops are 

 not, as a rule, grown for the seed like corn crops. They 

 may be conveniently divided into fruits, flowers and vege- 

 tables. . They are not grown in definite, regular rotation, 

 but are often taken from the same land several years 

 in succession. Garden areas are usually much smaller 

 than those of farms and can be much more thoroughly 

 tilled by hand labour and more liberally manured. 



In many cases, enormous quantities of stable manure 

 are used as a source of heat in order to secure early 

 crops, and under these circumstances nothing else is 

 required. The quantities of stable manure commonly 

 employed, apart from the preparation of hot-beds, usually 

 contain more than sufficient fertilising material to satisfy 

 all the requirements of the plants. 



As a class, gardeners are opposed to the use of 

 artificial manures, and rightly so if it is proposed to use 

 them as a substitute for farmyard manure. For various 

 reasons it is essential that garden soils should be well 

 stocked with humus, and artificial manures do not gene- 

 rally tend to increase that constituent but often have a 

 contrary effect. Still, if there be any scarcity of stable 

 manure, artificials may be used to supplement it and great 

 economy can often be effected in this way. 



The kind and quantities of artificial manure to be 

 employed must depend not only on the soil and crop, 

 but perhaps even more largely upon the amount of 

 farmyard manure employed. 



With the quantities of farmyard manure ordinarily 

 used in gardens, the addition of a little superphosphate, 

 is generally sufficient for .all purposes, provided the soil 

 contains an adequate proportion of lime. It may be used 

 at any rate up to about half a pound per square yard, 

 but about half that quantity 4 oz. is generally more 

 suitable. With smaller quantities of farmyard manure, 



