KITCHEN-GARDEN VEGETABLES. 
Farmyard manure spread along the bottom 
of the furrows, and the sets placed upon the 
manure, 1s a very common practice. Many 
preter planting the sets, and then laying the 
dung over them. When dung is scarce and 
the soil poor, these modes of application may 
be advantageously pursued, but in gardens the 
manure may be dug in equally. Long dung is | 
good for moist, loamy soils, and fresh littery 
stable dung is suitable for early crops. Farm- 
yard manure mixed with wood-ashes answer. 
well, the ashes lessening the tendency to disease. | 
Cow-dung is a more lasting manure than horse- 
dung, and is considered better for late sorts in 
warm, dry, sandy soils, as it retains more mois- 
ture. 
contact with the young tubers, otherwise it is 
apt to make them scab. The same remark ap- 
plies to pigs’-dung, which should be either well 
mixed with the soil, or preferably formed into 
a compost with earth previous to planting. 
Where the soil is damp and heavy a dressing 
of dead leaves is of advantage in keeping the 
ground open. 
over the sets, or both, or distributed equally 
throughout the soil in digging; but they should 
be turned over and thoroughly wetted before 
they are dug in; for if turned into the soil in 
cakes, they are apt to remain in that state and 
become musty. Wood-ashes are useful for sup- 
plying potash and other inorganic substances 
required by the plant; and they may be ad- 
vantageously applied where the soil contains 
a large amount of decayed vegetable matter. 
The same remark will apply to lime, which is 
also useful in killing slugs and other vermin 
which attack the tubers. Gypsum, bone-dust, 
and superphosphate of lime are best for humid 
soils; they induce earliness, and where this is 
an object they may be applied with considerable 
advantage. 
In the Journal of the Board of Agriculture for 
March, 1901, there is a notice of some experi- 
ments made in the manuring of Potatoes, by 
Mr. Rk. P. Wright. The experiments were con- 
ducted in Cheshire, Yorkshire, Northumberland, 
Durham, and the centre and south-west of Scot- 
jand. The chief object aimed at was to dis- 
cover the cheapest and most effective method 
of manuring for Potatoes, but incidentally some 
valuable information was obtained on some 
other points of practical importance. One of 
these was that some varieties responded to the 
application of manures to a much greater de- 
gree than others. 
They may be placed under or 
It should be well mixed with litter, and | 
be placed below the sets, so as not to be in> 
491 
In ordinary practice Potatoes are rarely grown 
except with applications of farmyard manure, 
to which artificial manures may or may not 
have been added. In the experiments there 
were plots to which farmyard manure alone 
was applied in the usual quantity; other plots 
to which, in addition to farmyard manure, 
artificial manures were applied as dressings; 
other plots were treated with artificial manures 
without farmyard manure. 
In no single instance in all the trials recorded 
was there a case found in which farmyard 
manure failed to produce a considerable increase 
of crop. The amount of increase varied, the 
conditions under which the experiments were 
made being so diverse in regard to manures, 
soils, and climatic conditions. 
Farmyard manure applied at the rate of 15 
tons per acre gave the maximum yield. On the 
other hand, farmyard manure at the rate of 10 
tons per acre proved insufficient of itself to pro- 
duce a full crop, and the addition of artificial 
manures gave a very profitable increase. 
Experiments in Yorkshire on the effects of 
liberal application of farmyard manure, as com- 
pared with an equally liberal and suitable com- 
bination of farmyard and _ artificial. manures, 
gave results slightly in favour of the former, 
V1Z. :— 
20 tons farmyard manure per acre, produced 10 tons 10 
ewts. 
10 tons farmyard manure, 
14 ewt. sulphate of ammonia, 
6 cwts. superphosphate, 
2 cwts. sulphate of potash, 
per acre, produced 10 tons 
6 cwts. 
For Potatoes it is not as a rule advisable to 
use artificial manures only, but under some con- 
ditions farmyard manure in moderate quantity, 
supplemented with suitable artificial manures, 
will give better results than farmyard manure 
alone. It has been proved that unless the arti- 
ficials be composed of a suitable combination of 
ingredients, and be given in the right quantity, 
they will not produce a satisfactory crop. The 
combination that has given the best results 
when used alone is:— | 
6 cwts. superphosphate, 
2 ,, sulphate of ammonia, 
1 cwt. nitrate of soda, 
2 cwts. sulphate of potash (91 per cent), 
ee acre. 
From the above it will be seen that the se- 
lection of manures must depend on the nature 
of the soil, the climate, and the variety culti- 
vated. In soils where the haulm grows too 
luxuriantly, no manure, or at all events none 
| that would materially increase that luxuriance, 
