MANURES. 



25 



of the plants in a good season, will be fully doubled. 

 Trees especially feel tlie benefit of this preparation, and 

 all fruit gardens should be thus prepared. No matter how 

 deep you may work the soil for trees or plants, their fibres 

 will penetrate it, and feel the good effect. 



Trenching should be performed in the fall — the coarse 

 manure dug in at that time. At the top it should be well 

 manured with v/ell rotted dung, charcoal dust, ashes, or 

 other good manure, dug in shallowly, taking care to level 

 the ground while trenching, so as to prevent washing. 

 Another good coat of compost should be added just before 

 planting in the spring. 



Manures. — Soils are also improved by supplying any 

 necessary constituents of plants in which they are partly 

 or wholly deficient ; in other words, by the application of 

 manures. Anything which being added to the soil directly 

 or indirectly, promotes the growth of plants, is a manure. 

 They are of two classes. Organic and inorganic. The 

 first embracing animal and vegetable, and the second onin- 

 eral manure. Manures directly assist vegetable growth 

 either by entering into the composition of plants, by ab- 

 sorbing and retaining moisture from the atmosphere, or by 

 absorbing from it nutritive gases. 



Manures indirectly assist the growth of plants either by 

 destroying vermin or weeds by decomposing in the soil, 

 and rendering available any stubborn organic remains, by 

 protecting plants from sudden changes of temperature, or 

 by improving the texture of the soil. 



All the above properties probably never are combined 

 in any one manure, each being characterized by superiority 

 in some one of the abo\e qualities. 



The manures most generally applicable, are those com- 

 posed of substances which directly enter into and are essen- 

 2 



