s 



:^1'4 MANUKES AMD THEIR APPLICATION. 



manures would be of more value, and could be better utilised 

 by horticulturists, if the ingredients and proportions were gene- 

 rally known. The advantages derived from their use are, first, 

 their easy application either in a dry or a soluble state; second, 

 the choice of ingredients suited to the various crops ; third, 

 the assistance they render to farmyard manure by supplying 

 in a concentrated form to rapid-growing plants the organic and 

 inorganic elements in the exact proportions required. 



A few common garden plants and the special ingredients 

 they require as food may be given. Peas, beans, and all crops 

 grown for their seeds should have manures rich in silicates and 

 phosphates. Potatoes, turnip, and root crops generally should 

 have lime and potash. Cabbage, spinach, and those vegetables 

 cultivated for their leaves should have sulphates and chlorides. 

 Carbonates and phosphates for fruit trees and bushes. Alkalies 

 are always required along with other manurial ingredients. 



These are a few of the more important compounds at the 

 command of the cultivator, the ingredients of which should 

 predominate in all manures applied to the crops or plants men- 

 tioned. They should not, however, be substituted entirely for 

 farmyard manure, but should be given along with it, according 

 to the wants of the crop and the deficiency in the soil of the 

 food-supply for that crop. The atmosphere is an inexhaustible 

 source of food-supply for plants, which is received from the 

 various gases and vapours which surround them. This supply 

 cannot be controlled by the horticulturist further than bj' 

 loosening the surface of the ground, that the nourishing dews 

 may the more readily be absorbed by it, and thus reach the 

 roots of the crop. The loosening the soil is also the means of 

 preventing the rain, which is laden with ammonia and carbonic 

 acid gas, more especially after prolonged drought, from running 

 direct into rents and crevices of the earth, instead of being re- 

 tained by the humus, and the fertilising properties held fast by 

 it, while the pure water is allowed to pass to the drainage. 



The Application of Manures. — Previous to appljdng farm- 

 yard manure, the nature of the soil shoiild be considered. If 

 it be of a close, heavy, and clayey nature, the manure should 

 be applied in a fresh state. If light and sandy, the manure 



