MANURES AND MANURING 29 



in sufficient quantities for the best results. The 

 practice of growing some crop to be returned to the 

 soil, after the main crop of the season has been har- 

 vested, is to be recommended, as it supplements the 

 inadequate manure supply. This applies primarily 

 to the large garden operations, and should not be 

 necessary in connection with the farm or home 

 gardens, where there can always be a sufficient 

 amount of manures secured from the stables to 

 make liberal applications over the small areas 

 involved. 



The truck garden problem is a very different one, 

 especially if located any considerable distance from 

 a city of some size. The more common use of 

 the automobile for hauling purposes in the cities 

 is bound to have its effect upon the supply of 

 manure available for gardening purposes and to 

 make the growing of green manures more and more 

 necessary and important as the years go by. Any 

 plant to be used for this purpose should be capable 

 of making a very rapid growth, should not be in- 

 jured by light frosts and should usually live over 

 winter and start into rapid growth very early in 

 the spring. They should be sown during the month 

 of August or early September, the exact time vary- 

 ing with location and climatic conditions. Usually 

 these crops may be started with crops already oc- 

 cupying the ground. They will not interfere with 

 each other while the cover or green manure crop is 

 small, and the main crop is removed before growth 

 of the new crop is seriously checked. The kinds of 

 plants adapted to this purpose vary widely, depend- 

 ing upon soil, nature of previous crop, etc. Rye, 

 while a non-leguminous crop, is in many respects 

 one of the most satisfactory for this purpose. The 



