HOW TO APPLY LIQUID MANURE. 575 



other plants ia proportion ; fruit-frees, and other open-air products, 



however, do not necessarily require the addition of hot water to the 



same extent as in-door produce, but are, notwithstanding, much 



heneflted by receiving it in a moderately warm state. Wherever a 



steam-engine is employed. Sir Joseph Paxton's practice of artiftcially 



warming the liquid manure might be easily adopted, by allowing some 



of the waste steam to blow through the tank or pipe. Experience has, 



however, amply shown that, for ordinary crops, sewerage in its usual 



state is' the most valuable manure that has yet been introduced. By 



attention chiefly to the proper administration of liquid food, and other 



suitable appliances, the Pine-apple, a plant formerly considered of so 



slow a growth as to require three years before it could produce fnll- 



sized fruit, has by Sir Joseph been so hastened in its growth as to yield, 



within an average of fifteen months, a far greater supply of finer fruit 



than was formerly produced by three years' expense and labour. From 



every day's experience, an instance or two out of a multitude might be 



cited by way of illustrating that even a much shorter period than fifteen 



months is not unfrequently sufficient to accomplish all that could be 



desired. An ordinary sucker of a Providence Pine was detached from 



the old stock during the month of March, and was planted out in a 



prepared bed of soil in a pit, and in the following August it produced a 



ripe weU-grown fruit, weighing 8 lbs. Two suckers also of a Cayenne 



Pine were separated and planted out ia April, and in the following 



September one of them produced a fruit weighing 7| lbs., and the other 



one 8 lbs. A large pit of Cayenne suckers of various sizes were planted 



out in a pit last spring, and in the autumn the fruit, when ripened, 



gave an average of one pound in weight for every month the plants had 



grown. These were not isolated or extraordinary instances of early 



production, but the common and natural result of this system of culture, 



which stimulates to extraordinary growth, and the most perfect deve- 



lopement. The efiects of liquid manure, when applied to the roots of 



Vines in pots, and on rafters, and to Cucumbers and Melons, are 



equally apparent ; the leaves assume a rich deep colour, become 



large and spreading, the growth is rapid and healthy, and the produce 



is invariably fine, plump, and becomes quickly matured." — Board of 



Sealth ^Report. 



Let the manure he extremely weak ; it owes its value to matters 

 that may be applied with considerable latitude ; for they are not abso- 

 lute poisons, like arsenic and corrosive sublimate, but only become 

 dangerous when in a state of concentration. Gas-water illustrates 

 this ; pour it over a plant in the caustic state in which it comes from 

 gas-works, and it takes off every leaf, if nothing worse ensues. Mix 

 it with lialf-water^ — still it burns ; double the quantity once more — it 

 may still burn, or discolour foliage somewhat. But add a tumbler of 

 gas-water to a bucketful of pure water, no injury whatever ensues ; 



