MANURING S7 



which has been applied when these organs are again in a 

 condition to perform their proper functions. Even 

 granting that no special harm is done to the trees, there is 

 inevitable delay in the economy of growth, the hazard of 

 losing a flowering season, and consequent loss of crop. 



With deep rooting plants the burial of manure is the 

 most economical method of application, as there can then 

 be no loss of volatile constituents. 



If we think over for a while the course which nature 

 has pursued for ages in supplying plants with their food 

 we shall find that the method adopted is purely surface 

 manuring, and this method with not a few modifications 

 is generally being adopted in what is called "Orchard 

 Culture." Even the ground the plant grows on has been 

 almost entirely formed, by additions to its surface, by 

 detritus from surrounding lands, by deposits made by 

 flood waters, or by decay induced by the flow of water 

 over its surface carrying with it solvents which are able 

 to disintegrate the materials of which it is composed. For 

 tree cultivation, surface manuring is the only method in 

 which the manure can be fully utilised, and we can easily 

 take steps to guard against evaporation or dispersion of 

 volatile principles, by covering the manure with material 

 which will act as an absorbent and thus retain the con- 

 stituents likely to escape. 



In practice, the covering of the ground with fresh or 

 decaying vegetable material is known as " mulching," 

 and it has been proved that for cacao the practice is of the 

 greatest value. 



Dr. Francis Watts, C.M.G., Imperial Commissioner of 

 Agriculture for the West Indies, in reporting on experiments 

 carried out in Dominica, has the following with reference 

 to five experiment plots of cacao : " The most interesting 

 plot is the one mulched with grass and leaves, the sweepings 

 of the lawn at the Botanic station. In the first period 

 this plot, though giving greater yield than the no-manure 

 plot, fell far behind the plot receiving dried blood, or the 

 plot receiving complete manure, viz., dried blood, phosphate 



