SECTION X. 



453 



enlarged, and in a way far more effective than by digging among the 

 roots; while no injury will be done by the former method to the nume- 

 rous, minute, and capillary fibres, which in every case form the true 

 absorbents of the root. 



To the fruit-borders of a kitchen garden the same sort of management 

 may be very successfully applied. But in that view I should recom- 

 mend that the compost be made up of one-fourth part of coal-ashes, 

 completely freed of cinders, and three-fourths of any tolerable soil. The 

 whole should be prepared in the manner already more than once directed 

 in the text for planting, and also for invigorating trees in the open park. 

 If the fruit trees to be manured be planted against a wall, the compost 

 should cover the space of ten feet out ; if they be in the open borders, 

 six feet may sufficiently answer the purpose. This practice will by no 

 means preclude the cultivation of leguminous crops, and those especially 

 of which the roots run near the surface, and which should always be 

 preferred for such situations. 



Note III. Page 242. 



As the great object about all places, whether to the husbandman or 

 to the arboriculturist, should be to increase the quantity of disposable 

 manure, it has been found by experience that the juice or exudation 

 from the dunghill may be far more advantageously employed for that 

 purpose, than for watering the roots of trees. From this rule, however, 

 we must always except the roots of Vines in the hot-house ; for no supe- 

 rior method has ever been found of giving an immediate stimulus to 

 the growth of those plants. 



The object to which I here allude — that is, the mode of employing the 

 juices of the dunghill — was, I believe, first suggested by the late Lord 

 Meadowbank, to whom alone we are indebted for the discovery of the 

 method of converting peat into manure by means of fermentation. The 

 object is, to water peaty earth, if in a mry decomposed state, and so 

 produce excellent manure within a short period. That this liquid will 

 decompose pure peat itself, we are well aware ; but much time and 

 patience would be necessary to decompose it to any extent, and also 

 a greater command of the liquid than could be easily procured. Who- 

 ever has dry peat-moss at hand, however, should not omit, when his 

 dung-yard is cleared out, to lay a stratum of it at the bottom, so that, 

 when the contents are taken out some time after, it will be found as 

 valuable a manure as any other in his possession. 



Every diligent arboriculturist, and every one residing at a distance 

 from a town or considerable village, where dung can be purchased at 

 pleasure, should have a well or pit at the lower side of his dung-yard, 



