AN EXPEBniEXTAL PLOT. 



25 



is to add lime. It is au old plan. The lime acts on the manure, 

 and sets free its food constituents, so that it really feeds the crop. 

 Yes, liming is good, but it always strikes me as a very cumbrous and 

 roundabout T^-ay of keeping healthy to flr-t of all ignore the rules of 

 health and then swallow medicine to remedy the iireffects of neglect. 

 \\hy not learn the rules of good health first, and observe them / 



To give too much manure, and then have to add lime to put 

 matters right, is surely a very clumsy way of going to work. 



The application of the ideas of manuring herewith thrown out 

 could, doubtless, be made Avith satisfactory re-ults by many intel- 

 ligent cultivators, but it will, perhaps, be mc»:i .satisfactory to point 

 them by practical details, followed by hints on each particular crop. 



I have said that the manuring problem is not merely the issue 

 betvreen natural and artificial manures. As a matter of fact, both 

 provide the same constituents. Good crops of vegetables can be 

 obtained with either or both. Tne man who declares that only 

 natural manure is of any use, and he who says the same c-f 

 artificials, are both in the wrong. Some crops do particularly well 

 with natural manures, others seem to thrive admirably' with 

 artificials, but many crops do best with a judicious blend of both. 

 ^Yhat is wanted is exact knowledge. 



We ought, I think, to put our vegetables into groups in order to 

 get into a proper position for suiting their reciuirements. 



Group Xo. 1 might be that class of vegetables which develop by 

 swelling rapidly underground, and the roots of Avhich are exceedingly 

 susceptible to external influences. This is a very important group, 

 because it includes Potatoes, Carrots, Parsnips, and Beets. Coarse, 



FIG. 8.-AN EXPERIMENTAL PLOT. 



L 



1 R0.V5 



c A s : , - s 



o^yoNS 

 NAiL5ACf?AlG 

 i 5 ROWS 



LEEKS 



'CauL'.FLQV.ERS 

 WINTER GRELNS 



^^PCTATOES 



A I B 



m 



\1 



miiilit be dung alone; LB diing with artificials: IT, 

 artificial mixture with potash omitted: III., w'th p:. 

 IV., with nitrates omitted; Y. might contain a c- 

 VI., no manure at ail. See remarks on manimng. 



Here is a pLjt 

 divided into six 

 differently man- 

 ured sections : 

 I., II., III.. IV., 

 V.^VI. Plotl. 

 issabdivided. A. 

 B. Have the 

 crops running 

 in rows across 

 each section, so 

 that it can be 

 seen at a glance 

 which manure 

 suits best. I. A 



mplcte mixture 



