348 



CASSELL'S POPULAR GARDENING. 



substances— viz., blood, flesh, fish, urine, draining 

 compost, rotten stable- dung. 



{h) Nitrogenous Substances that are Easily Decomposed 

 (Tolerably rapid forcers). 

 Horn shavings, glue, meat-meal, bones — dissolved, 

 steamed, and finely ground ; oilcakes of all kinds, 

 brewers' grains, and stable-dung beginning to decay. 

 {c) Nitrogenous Substances that Decompose with Diffi- 

 culty (slow forcers). 

 Bone-dust, crushed bones, leather cuttings, woollen 

 rags, shoddy, wool-dust, and stable-dung. 



II. — Manures Rich in Carbon 

 (Forming humus). 

 Stable-dung, straw, dead leaves, weeds, lawn and 

 garden trimmings, sea- weeds, rotten vegetable mould, 

 peat, and fern-brake. 



III. — Manures containing Potask 

 (Strong forcers). 

 Potash salts of all kinds, kainit, wood-ashes, sea- 

 weed, urine, brewers' grains, vegetable foliage, stems 

 and leaves, building rubbish, street-sweepings, burnt 

 clay and loam, and various marls. 



IV. — Manures containing Soda 

 (Acting less freely). 

 Common salt, sulphate of soda (nitre-cake), soap- 

 boilers' " under-ley," urine, soapsuds, soda-felspar 

 and some other kinds of stone. 



v.— Manures Rich in Phosphoric Acid 

 (Seed-formers) . 

 Burnt bones, bone-black or animal charcoal, guano, 

 ra^' bones, meat-meal, coprolites, phosphates, apatite, 

 oilcakes of all kinds, brewers' grains, stable manure, 

 and animal excrements. 



VI. — Manures containing Sulphukic Acid 

 (Partly direct manures and partly absorbents of 

 other manuring substances). 

 Superphosphate, gypsum, manures containing 

 sulphates, ashes of pit-coal, peat, and brown coal. 



VII. — Manures Rich in Lime. 

 Quicklime, chalk, superphosphates, marl, sheU- 

 lime, gypsum, wood and vegetable ashes, build- 

 ing rubbish, and soap-boilers' ashes. 



VIII. — Manures Rich in Silica. 

 Ashes of all kinds, sand, straw, and stable-dung. 



IX. — Manures that Ameliorate the Physical 

 Condition op the Soil. 

 Lime, marls, loam, sand, chalk, pond-mud, road 

 scriipings, vegetable mould, turf, leaves, long and 

 undecomposed stable-dung. 



Manure Effect. — The influence of manures 

 upon plants has been proved by many experiments, 



and by the experience of both the agriculturist and 

 the horticulturist. Thus the gardener is said to 

 improve his Roses by adding manganese compounds 

 to the soil, and to redden his Hyacinths by watering 

 them with a solution of sodium carbonate. AVolfi: 

 states that carbonate of potash promotes the growth 

 of the stem and leaves of the Vine ; and in the year 

 1879 Ville said : *' Until lately I always thought that 

 the Leguminosce and the Potato were the plants which 

 showed a special preference for potash, but the Vine 

 distances them in this respect in a most surprising 

 manner. In the case of the Potato, the suppression 

 of potash manifests itself by a diminution of the 

 crop ; with the Vine, however, httle or no fruit 

 makes its appearance, and we virtually get no crop 

 at all." This is shown very remarkably by the three 

 diagrams illustrating the experiments with this plant. 

 These were all grown in impoverished soil, and 

 planted at the same time. No. 1 received no manure 

 whatever, and a meagre growth was the result. 

 No. 2 received a manure containing certain mineral 

 constituents but no potash. A more vigorous plant 

 was obtained than without manure, but scarcely any 

 fruit. No. 3 received a complete manurial supply, 

 consisting of a liberal amount of potash, and nitrogen 

 in the form of ammonium salts. With these ingre- 

 dients a full-developed plant was obtained witii 

 abundance of fruit. " Where potash is lacking, the 

 leaves of the Vine do not attain their full develop- 

 ment; in the month of July they become red and 

 spotted with black; after which they become dry, 

 and are easily reduced to powder under pressure of 

 the fingers." 



But the element which beyond all others must 

 be considered the most valuable constituent in sub- 

 stances emploj-ed as manures is nitrogen, inasmuch 

 as it especially imparts to manure its so-called 

 " forcing power." The action of nitrogen extends to 

 the whole period of the growth of the plant, from 

 its earliest stage of leaves and stems to the full 

 development of blossom and seed. If, however, 

 nitrogen is to be rendered fit for the food of plants, 

 it must first be converted by fermentation and decay 

 into ammonia or nitric acid, which, combining with 

 lime previously existing in the soil, will be easily 

 and rapidly absorbed by growing plants. 



That a supply of nitrogen really constitutes the 

 "forcing" ingredients in manures maybe proved by 

 the gardener in the following manner :— Wrap the 

 bulb of a Hyacinth round with a few thin horn 

 shavings, and put it into the earth by the side of 

 another without horn ; the result by the former will 

 probably be a plant double the size of the latter. 

 Horn shavings contain little fertilising matter 

 except nitrogen ; it stands to reason, therefore, that 

 it is to this substance we must attribute the extra- 



