292 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



the manure is used in a fresh state, and dug into 

 the ground in autumn or during winter, the soil 

 has sufficient time to become completely im- 

 pregnated with the elements of fertility required 

 for the succeeding spring crop ; at so wing or plant- 

 ing, a slight dressing of guano, bone-dust, nitrate 

 of soda, &c, is given, to act as stimulants in fur- 

 thering the early growth of the crop : as the 

 roots descend into the soil, they come into imme- 

 diate contact with the store of food previously 

 buried in it, and now reduced to that state in 

 which only it can be serviceable for the purpose 

 of nutrition. Much of the fertilising properties 

 of manure is lost by over fermentation, the 

 effects of rain, snow, and exposure to the weather; 

 and by the time the process, as generally fol- 

 lowed, of turning, fermenting, and preparing 

 the dung, has been accomplished, little of its 

 best properties is left ; whereas, when the ma- 

 nure is applied to the ground soon after it is 

 made, and dug in, a slow process of fermenta- 

 tion takes place, during which the ammonia is 

 absorbed by the alumina as fast as it is formed. 

 This will be found to be more strikingly the 

 case in strong soils than in light ones, as the 

 former contain a greater portion of alumina and 

 humus than the latter ; besides which, a me- 

 chanical improvement takes place during the 

 decomposition of the littering matter, it keeping 

 the soil open and more pervious to air. Another 

 advantage attends autumn or winter manuring ; 

 namely, it is more convenient to bring the manure 

 in then than during summer, when the process of 

 carting or wheeling would be destructive to the 

 walks. And as garden ground can scarcely be 

 rendered too rich, it matters not how long before 

 the crop is to be sown or planted the manure is 

 applied, as it is enriching the soil all the while, 

 and fitting it for cropping when the time for so 

 doing arrives. Stable-yard manure loses more 

 than is generally imagined by the process of 

 making, as usually performed. Direct experi- 

 ments have shown, as stated in Morton's " Cy- 

 clopedia of Agriculture," that " 100 cwt. of fresh 

 farmyard manure are reduced to 80 cwt., if al- 

 lowed to lie till the straw is half- rotten ; 100 

 cwt. of fresh farmyard manure are reduced to 

 60 cwt., if allowed to ferment until itbecomes 'fat 

 and cheesy ;' 100 cwt. of fresh farmyard manure 

 are reduced to 40 or 50 cwt., if completely de- 

 composed. This loss not only affects the water, 

 and other less valuable constituents of farm- 

 yard manure, but also its most fertilising ingre- 

 dient, nitrogen. Chemical analyses have shown 

 that 100 cwt. of common farmyard manure con- 

 tain about 40 lb. of nitrogen ; and that, by 

 fermentation during the first period, 5 lb. of 

 nitrogen is dissipated in the form of the volatile 

 ammonia ; in the second, 10 lb. ; in the third, 

 20 lb. Completely decomposed manure has thus 

 lost about one-half of its most valuable consti- 

 tuent. The practical deduction which appears 

 to be warranted by these experiments is, where 

 it is possible, to apply farmyard manure in a 

 fresh state to the land." Rank and entirely un- 

 fermented manure may be less valuable to thin 

 light soils than to strong heavy ones, but even 

 nmch of this depends on the kind of crop which 

 is immediately to follow. Our own experience 



satisfies us as to the advantage of manuring at 

 these times, and in this way, and we have only 

 to look to the highest cultivated garden-ground 

 in Britain, the London market-gardens, for a 

 corroboration of the fact. They lay on the 

 manure as they receive it, not with a view so 

 much to benefit the succeeding crop, as to keep 

 the ground in a high state of enrichment for all 

 succeeding ones, the manure undergoing all the 

 while the necessary changes from a solid to a 

 soluble state. 



Green vegetable manure is an important and 

 much-neglected fertiliser in garden culture. It 

 requires no previous preparation : all plants 

 contain much saccharine or mucilaginous matter, 

 and therefore cannot be used too soon after 

 their death. Green vegetable manure consists 

 of the sweepings of lawns, annual , weeds be- 

 fore they have formed their seed, pond weeds, 

 fresh turf, the refuse of vegetable crops, &c. A 

 great waste occurs in most gardens by carrying 

 all refuse vegetable matter to the rot-heap, there 

 to decompose and be returned again in the shape 

 of vegetable mould, while no small portion of it 

 is sent down the nearest river, or buried in the 

 most convenient pit. In its application it should 

 not be buried to too great a depth, otherwise the 

 necessary fermentation would be prevented by 

 compression. At a proper depth decomposition 

 proceeds slowly, the soluble matters are gradu- 

 ally dissolved, and the slight fermentation that 

 goes on, checked by want of a free communica- 

 tion with the air, tends to render the woody 

 fibre soluble, without occasioning the rapid dis- 

 sipation of elastic matter. The use of green 

 vegetable manure is of the greatest antiquity ; 

 it was practised by the ancient Romans, and still 

 largely employed in Italy to this day. It is pro- 

 bable, however, that this mode of enriching the 

 soil is better adapted to warm climates than to 

 colder ones, because vegetation is more rapid 

 and luxuriant in the former than in the latter. 

 This opinion, sound or unsound, bears lightly on 

 gardens, where the climate is supposed to be 

 warmer, and the crops far more luxuriant than 

 on farms. We think highly of green vegetable 

 manures ; and, operating upon a light soil and 

 good climate, we commit all such matter not 

 eaten by animals to the soil, and indeed grow 

 spinach, spurrey, and buck-wheat, and other 

 rapid-growing crops, for the express purpose of 

 being dug into the ground immediately before 

 the formation of their seed. 



Sea-weed ranks amongst green vegetable ma- 

 nures, and its application as such in places where 

 it abounds is so far commendable. It abounds 

 in soda, or the mixed mineral alkali, and con- 

 tains somewhere about §th of a gelatinous sub- 

 tance similar to mucilage, and fths of its weight 

 of water, but no ammonia. Like all green vege- 

 table manures, it should be applied to the land 

 as soon as gathered, as it loses both bulk and 

 quality by keeping. Its effect on land is tran- 

 sient ; and it is probable that, if the expense of 

 collecting and applying were expended on the 

 purchase of salt, applied in rainy weather, the 

 effects would be equal. 



Rape-cake contains carbon and hydrogen, and 

 hence is an effective manure, better fitted, how- 



