Manures. 



By J. J. Willis 



As a prosperous system of horticulture can 

 only be built upon a fertile soil, it is self- 

 evident that the maintenance of the fertility 

 of the soil is one of the most important of 

 all economic problems to the practical 

 gardener. Further, it is acknowledged that 

 an indifferent system of manuring is at the root of a great 

 many well-founded complaints of failure in various branches of 

 horticulture, and in fruit culture in particular. 



That a soil may be speedily reduced in fertility under an 

 improvident method of gardening, and that the original fertility 

 of a once productive soil may be restored, although sometimes 

 slowly and laboriously, are matters of common observation. 



The reason why soils require the addition of manures is 

 apparent when we remember the continual process of exhaus- 

 tion that goes on, due to the growth of plants year after 

 year ; and profitable gardening necessitates the maintenance of 

 the soil in an increasing, rather than a diminishing, state of 

 fertility. At the same time, it must be borne in mind that to 

 use manures on a soil which does not require them, or to add 

 manures in great excess, or to apply those not required by 

 the particular crop under cultivation, is so much waste of 

 money. 



In order to grow a full crop, or a maximum healthy plant, 

 whether for foliage, flowers, or fruit, it is necessary, even sup- 

 posing that conditions of moisture, heat, and lisht, with texture 



