756 



Peat-Moss Litter Manure. 



[dec. 



The supply of farmyard manure for use in the Royal 

 Botanic Gardens, Kew, is obtained in the neighbourhood 

 from contractors, 'bus proprietors, and 

 Peat-Moss others who keep a number of horses. 



Litter Manure. p or SO me years a considerable propor- 

 tion of the manure thus obtained has 

 been made with peat-moss litter, imported, it is believed, from 

 Denmark, and composed chiefly of compressed dead moss 

 and bog peat, as it has been formed in marshes, &c. It is 

 neither peat nor moss as these are understood in horticulture, 

 and is entirely unsuited for the growth of plants. It is 

 imported in the form of bales which are broken up in the 

 stables to be spread as bedding in the stalls. When it be- 

 comes saturated with urine and contains a considerable pro- 

 portion of horse droppings, it is thrown into a heap to be 

 carted away. Compared with straw-made manure this moss- 

 litter manure is cheap, but it is not looked upon with favour by 

 market gardeners. Its use at Kew has been mainly as a top 

 dressing for lawns and borders, but only after it has been ex- 

 posed to the air for about six months, and turned several times. 

 It has not been used for mixing with the soil, but this spring 

 some of the flower-beds were in error manured with it. Its 

 effect on the health and growth of the plants which were 

 afterwards put into these beds for the summer was markedly 

 deleterious. The plants not only failed to start into growth, 

 but many of them weakened and died, and as this was 

 evidently due to the manure in the soil in which the plants 

 were set, samples of the soil and manure were submitted to 

 Dr. J. A. Voelcker for analysis and report. 



Dr. Voelcker's report was as follows : — 



"I have now completed my examination of the sample ol 

 Soil and that of Peat-Moss Manure which you sent me. 



"The analysis of the Peat-Moss Manure is as follows : — 



Moisture 39*59 



Organic matter and salts of ammonia ... 46*87 

 Oxide of iron and alumina, with traces 



of phosphoric acid ... 1*49 



Lime 0*90 



Alkalies, magnesia, &c 4*81 



Insoluble siliceous matter 6*34 



100*00 



