MANURING IN THEORY AND PRACTICE. 



171 



It must be remembered that the general tendency 

 of nitrogenous manures is to favour the extension 

 of foliage and give depth of colour, whereas that of 

 the mineral manures, which include potash, tends to 

 stem formation and production of seed. 



Soot, Dried Blood, and Woollen Refuse 



are all largely used as manures. 



(a) Soot consists principally of fine particles of 

 carbon or charcoal; but it also contains from 16 to 

 30 per cent, of mineral matters, with from two to 

 four per cent, of ammonium salts, to which its 

 fertilising properties are chiefly due. It may be 

 applied at the rate of from forty to sixty bushels 

 per acre for Beans, Peas, Onions, and various other 

 crops. It is more suitable for heavy than for light 

 soils, and acts as a check to the ravages of insects. 



(b) Woollen Rags are largely used in Kent as a 

 manure for hops. The rags are mixed with five or 

 six times their weight of earth, and the compost kept 

 saturated with strong liquid manure. 



Cotton rags are almost valueless for manurial 

 purposes. 



(e) Dried Blood is an excellent manure for most 

 plants ; when of best quality, it contains about fifteen 

 per cent, of ammonia. 



(d) Fish are frequently employed for manure. 

 The best way of using them for the garden is in the 

 form of a compost made with three or four times 

 their weight of earth, with alternate layers of lime. 

 The heap should be finally covered with earth, to 

 prevent the loss of ammonia during fermentation. 

 By this method the fish are rapidly decomposed, and 

 make a rich compost, which may be used at the rate 

 of 30 cwts. per acre. 



Rape-dust. — When rape-seed is exhausted of 

 its oil it comes from the press in the form of hard 

 cakes, which, when crushed to powder, form the 

 rape-dust so extensively employed as manure. It 

 makes a good dressing for Onions, Potatoes, root 

 crops, and plants in pots. 



It may be sown with Turnip-seed, or seeds of 

 the Cabbage tribe generally, and will be found 

 specially useful during early growth in hastening 

 the brairding of the young plants, and getting them 

 beyond the reach of the " fly." 



Rape-cake is most effective on moderately light 

 soil, and in moist seasons, or where the plants are 

 well supplied with water. 



Lime, Chalk, and Marl frequently form ma- 

 nures of the greatest importance in the garden. 

 And the most successful cultivation of Roses will be 

 found where a liberal supply of marl can be obtained. 



On soils naturally destitute of lime, as in tne case 



of many clays and sandstones, these manures pro- 

 vide an indispensable element of plant-food. Pliny 

 attests the use of slacked lime by the Roman cultiva- 

 tors as a dressing for the soil in which fruit-trees 

 were grown. It is also applied with equal success 

 by the Vine-growers in Spain. The purposes served 

 by lime as a constituent of the soil are — 



(1) It supplies a kind of inorganic food which 

 appears to be necessary to the healthy growth of 

 most plants. 



(2) It neutralises acid substances, which are 

 naturally formed in the soil, and decomposes or 

 renders harmless other noxious compounds that are 

 not unfrequently within reach of the roots of plants. 



(3) It changes the inert organic matter in the 

 soil so as gradually to render it useful to vegetation. 



(4) It causes, or facilitates, other compounds, both 

 organic and inorganic, to be produced in the soil, 

 or so promotes the decomposition of existing con- 

 stituents as to prepare them more speedily for 

 entering into the circulation of growing plants. 



(5) It proves very useful in tenacious, heavy 

 clay soils, or soils rich in humus, while it may be 

 dispensed with in light sandy soils. 



In reclaiming peat-bogs, lime is of the highest 

 importance. 



Gas Lime is an excellent material in a compost 

 for dissolving or disintegrating bones, leather cut- 

 tings, hair, woollen rags, or similar substances, which 

 require energetic agents to reduce them to a pul- 

 verulent state, admitting of easy and profitable use 

 as fertilisers. 



To prepare gas lime for the garden it should be 

 spread out on a layer of pond-mud, night-soil, leaf- 

 mould, or any other coarse vegetable refuse, and 

 exposed to rain and air until the odour is gone. 

 The underlying mass of refuse will thus be advanced 

 on its way to form an available manure, and the 

 washings of the gas lime will be saved. 



Liquid Manure is doubtless the soul of horti- 

 culture, and the gardener who buys artificial manures, 

 but does not look carefully after the dark-coloured 

 liquid which trickles out of his manure-heaps, or to 

 the drainings from the house, stables, piggeiies, &c, 

 may be considered a wasteful gardener. Money and 

 labour expended in the construction of a liquid- 

 manure tank is well spent, and will yield a more 

 than commensurate return. By means of glazed 

 earthenware pipes all the sewage may be conveyed 

 into this tank, which should be as far as possible 

 removed from the well supplying the family with 

 drinking-water. 



Rain water should not be allowed to rim into the 

 manure-tank, because the manure thus diluted loses 



