ON MANURES. 



II33 



The advantages to the horticulturist of the uses of nitrates 

 may thus be briefly summarised : — (i) Nitrate of soda and nitrate 

 of hme serves directly as food for plants ; not having to undergo 

 any change in the soil, they act more rapidly than any nitrogenous 

 manure of organic origin, such as farmyard or stable dung, guano, 

 blood, fish, rape cake, &:c., or even sulphate of ammonia and soot, 

 as the action of all these materials is dependent on their undergoing 

 nitrification. (2) The rapidity with which the nitrate is absorbed 

 by plants quickly puts them into a state which, by the vigour of 

 their development, they can the better resist disease, insect attack, 

 parasitic growths, and drought. (3) In seasons following a severe 

 winter, or for early productions of vegetables, nitrate supplied in 

 the spring repairs the lateness caused by climatic disadvantages. 

 (4) Young plants take up nitrates so rapidly, and send their roots 

 into the soil so quickly, that the nitrates cannot escape them, even 

 if washed down by heavy rains, always provided other conditions 

 are favourable. 



Artificial Manures : their Chemical Composition and 

 Use in the Garden. 



Having dealt with the nature, the composition, and the uses 

 in the garden of farmyard and stable manures, and also of the 

 manure from various descriptions of domestic animals, we have 

 next to consider the place occupied in a proper system of horti- 

 culture by artificial fertilisers. 



It has been found from numerous investigations that horti- 

 culturists use nearly ylb. of nitrogen in the form of manure to 

 get back ilb. of nitrogen in the crop produced. This is owing 

 to the low percentage of plant-food in the bulky farmyard or 

 stable manure, which is generally used for manurial purposes, and 

 to the slowness of its action. 



It will be well, therefore, to impress upon every gardener the 

 fact that to manure horticultural soils and crops efficiently means, 

 to-day, something more than to incorporate into the earth an 

 exceptionally liberal amount of such a varying substance as farm- 

 yard or stable manure, vegetable composts, and the like, which 

 may take many years to yield all the effects of which they may 

 be capable. A moderate use of what are term^ed "natural"' 

 manures, supplemented by a suitable addition of concentrated 

 artificial fertilisers, for the purpose of rendering the former more 

 rapidly available, in order to force particular garden products " out 

 of season " and to raise special plants vigorously and well, 

 should commend itself to the horticulturist on account of the 

 directness with which he can thus reach the object in view. 

 Both good economy and the preference for a healthy and 

 vigorous condition of cultivated plants advise a change from an 

 indifferent system of manuring to one of a more rational 

 character. 



