60 MANURING 



is not available to provide a dressing for the whole 

 plantation, it would be advisable to treat different por- 

 tions in rotation. Animal manure, being less readily 

 soluble than many chemical manures, may be applied 

 at the commencement of the rainy season. 



Whenever the root-system of the cocoa trees permits 

 of it, manure should be lightly forked in. It is 

 advisable for drain and road cleaning to be co- 

 incident with the application of manure, so that the 

 debris taken from these places could be spread over 

 the manured area to assist in checking the escape of 

 ammonia. 



Artificial Manures. — Many fertilisers, such as guano 

 and nitrate of soda, are, strictly speaking, natural manures, 

 but it is usual to consider all manures not produced on 

 the farm as artificial manures. The latter may be 

 divided into four main divisions, i.e. nitrogenous, phos- 

 phatic, potassic, and special or compound manures. The 

 basis of the last mentioned is usually super-phosphate, 

 which is mixed with various other manurial ingredients 

 to meet the specific demands of particular crops and 

 soils. It is found more economical to mix dry, fine 

 earth with artificial manures previous to broad-casting 

 them in the plantation, and to fork them into the 

 ground as much as possible without disturbing the 

 roots. The principal nitrogenous artificial manures 

 are : ammonium salts, guano nitrate of soda, dried blood, 

 and oil cake. 



Vegetable Manures. — The texture of soils deficient in 

 organic matter may be considerably improved by 

 the incorporation of vegetable matter. It is also found 

 that artificial manures give far better results when 

 a wornout soil's condition has been improved by this 

 means. 



Experiments conducted at the Minnesota Agricultural 

 Experiment Station have shown that by increasing 

 the organic matter in the soil 0"5 per cent, the amount 

 of nitrogen was raised by 245 lb. per acre. Vegetable 

 matter is beneficial to both heavy and light soils ; in the 

 case of the former it separates the soil particles and 

 renders the soil more permeable to air and moisture ; 

 in the latter case the moisture-holding capacity of the 

 sou is increased. 



