296 



CULINARY OR KITCHEN GARDEN. 



vegetation." The analysis of Professor John- 

 ston has shown that liquid manure contains, in 

 a soluble state, every element necessary to the 

 growth of plants ; and also that the drainings of 

 the dunghill are more valuable than urine alone, 

 containing as it does a considerable portion of 

 phosphate of lime, as well as an appreciable 

 amount of silica in a soluble state, neither of 

 which are found in urine alone. 



Liquid manure is most beneficially applied to 

 the roots of plants while in a vigorous growing 

 state. It can be applied to them also when solid 

 manures cannot, as in the case of vines and fruit- 

 trees, plants in pots, and to culinary vegetables, 

 at any time during their active existence. To 

 prevent unnecessary saturation, it should be as 

 little attenuated as possible; and, to prevent chill- 

 ing the roots of tender plants, it should be heated 

 to from 60° to 100°. With these precautions it 

 may be applied to all plants with beneficial 

 effects. 



Ammoniacal liquor is a solution of ammonia, 

 partly caustic and partly combined with carbonic 

 acid and sulphuretted hydrogen. This is a power- 

 ful fertiliser, but is much too strong to be applied 

 to crops in an unmixed state : it requires to be 

 attenuated by the addition of from four to six 

 times its bulk of water. In this state it may be 

 advantageously applied to the roots of growing 

 crops, such as all the Brassicse, spinach, asparagus, 

 &c. Of this excellent fertiliser Mr Solly remarks, 

 " In consequence of the volatility and caustic 

 nature of free ammonia, it is found advisable for 

 most purposes to fix the ammonia of gas liquor. 

 This may either be done with an acid, or with 

 gypsum or sulphate of iron : a cheap acid like 

 the sulphuric is, generally speaking, the most 

 convenient." 



Fish, blubber, and the residue of many manu- 

 factured materials composed of animal or vege- 

 table substances, have been used with consider- 

 able effect to most soils and to most crops. 



Charcoal and the ashes of trees, shrubs, and 

 all vegetables, whether in a living or dead state, 

 afford a considerable amount of fertilising mate- 

 rial ; but all those, to be useful, must be burned 

 under a slow smouldering fire. When slowly con- 

 sumed they contain the fixed alkaline salt called 

 potash, which is extracted by lixiviation and 

 crystallisation. Wood ashes contain soluble 

 salts, earthy phosphates, and carbonates, silica, 

 and metallic oxides, differing in quantity and com- 

 position in different plants. Vegetable ashes 

 contain lime, potash, soda, silica, magnesia, and 

 the sulphuric, carbonic, phosphoric, and muri- 

 atic acids, with oxide of iron and magnesia ; but 

 the products differ very much in different plants. 

 These ashes should be kept perfectly dry after 

 being obtained, as water washes out the alkali, 

 leaving only the insoluble and earthy parts be- 

 hind. Burned clay and charred peat stand in 

 near relation to these. 



A long list of organic manures might be given, 

 but the above are those of greatest importance, 

 and, if rightly prepared and applied, may be con- 

 sidered sufficient for all practical uses. It is not 

 iu the deficiency in point of numbers, but in 

 the preparation and application of manures, that 

 we are so far behind. 



§ 3. — INORGANIC MANURES. 



Of all inorganic or mineral manures lime is the 

 most important. It is found existing in the com- 

 position of most plants. In one form or other it 

 is found in most soils — in calcareous ones abun- 

 dantly, in silicious soils sparingly, and in fertile 

 loams in moderate yet sufficient quantities, suit- 

 able to the plants produced on them. Lime, 

 considered as a manure applicable to horticul- 

 tural purposes, ranks under the five following 

 heads : — 



Quick or hot lime is valued for rendering solu- 

 ble organic matters, such as vegetable or animal 

 manures already in the soil, and is in that state 

 when it is taken from the kiln, after the water 

 and carbonic acid are driven off during the pro- 

 cess of burning. In this state it has a powerful 

 attraction for water, and when applied to the 

 soil, greatly assists in converting the woody fibre 

 and other organic matters into humus, forming 

 what is called humate of lime. The carbonic 

 acid gas which may exist in the soil, or is sup- 

 plied by water or the atmosphere, reduces the 

 humate of lime to a soluble state, and converts 

 it into a fit food for plants. Quick or caustic 

 lime is especially useful in soils rich in humus, 

 as most all old garden-soils are. It is also use- 

 ful in soils containing sulphate of iron, by de- 

 composing that salt which is so hurtful to vege- 

 tation. It also renders inert matter, such as 

 dead peat, nutritive and useful to plants. 



Mild lime is lime which has been exposed to 

 the action of the atmosphere for some time after 

 burning. Its action upon vegetable substances 

 is altogether different from that of quick or hot 

 lime, inasmuch as it prevents the too rapid de- 

 composition of substances already dissolved, act- 

 ing in this respect similarly to chalk. 



Quick lime is most advantageously applied to 

 soils abounding in inert vegetable matter ; mild 

 lime, to soils naturally deficient in a proper 

 amount of calcareous matter, which may be de- 

 termined by their not effervescing when acids are 

 applied to them. " When a soil deficient in cal- 

 careous matter contains much soluble vegetable 

 manure, the application of quick lime should 

 always be avoided, as it either tends to decom- 

 pose the soluble matters by uniting to these car- 

 bon and oxygen, so as to become mild lime, or 

 combines with the soluble matters, and forms 

 compounds having less attraction for water than 

 the pure vegetable substance. The case is the 

 same with respect to most animal manures, but 

 the operation of the lime is different in different 

 cases, and depends on the nature of the animal 

 matter to which it is applied. Lime should never 

 be applied along with animal manures, unless 

 they are too rich, or for the purpose of prevent- 

 ing noxious effluvia." — Encyc. of Gard., p. 490. 

 In regard to the season of application, Mr Donald- 

 son remarks, " Autumn is not to be recommend- 

 ed, owing to the solubility of lime in water, and 

 the want of the summer heats, to develop the 

 action of the lime on the substances in the soil. 

 Caloric must be held as one chief spring of che- 

 mical affinity; it dilates bodies, separates the 

 particles, diminishes the attraction for each other, 

 and proportionably augments the attraction of 



