40 



GARDENING FOR THE SOUTH. 



be absorbed by the muck or its strength may be retained 

 by sprinkling the floor of stables and the manure heap 

 frequently with fine charcoal or plaster of Paris. Gypsum 

 ^ sprinkled upon the floors of stables forms a compound 

 like the urate of commerce, so powerful that 500 pounds 

 will amply manure an acre. If you can obtain no other 

 absorbent, even tanner's bark is not without its value, 

 but the weeds, sweepings of walks, and other refuse of the 

 garden are to be preferred. Urine may also be diluted 

 with three times its weight of water and permitted to 

 gi-ow stale and be applied at night or in moist weather 

 directly to the growing crops. The principal animal 

 manures are those of the horse, the hog, the cow, and the 

 sheep. Of these horse manure is most valuable in its 

 fresh state. That of the hog comes next, then that of the 

 ox, while the cow is at the bottom of the list because most 

 of the enriching substances in her food go to the formation 

 of milk, leaving the manure comparatively weakened. 

 The manures of animals is far richer than their food, be- 

 cause it contains more nitrogen, the carbon and oxygen of 

 the food being taken up by the lungs and blood to sustain 

 the animal heat. The richer the food given to animals 

 the more powerful is the manure. If animal manures are 

 employed in a fresh state they should be mixed intimately 

 with the soil and given to such coarse feeding crops as 

 corn and the garden pea. But nearly all plants do better 

 if the manure is composted and fully fermented before 

 use. Pig manure used alone is pernicious to the growth 

 of the cabbage and turnip tribe, and gives an unpleasant 

 taste to many other vegetables, but composted with muck or 

 mould it is much more beneficial as well as more durable. 



In managing animal manures, decomposition must be 

 promoted to convert the nitrogen into ammonia — the vola- 

 tile parts must be preserved from dissipation in the air, 



