THE CULINARY GARDEN. 



43 



fermentation, we grow many of the tropical and exotic fi'uits 

 and vegetables, which the inclemency of our climate prevents 

 us having in the open air ; and after it is of no farther use in 

 those departments, we carry it out to manure our lands. This 

 practice, however prevalent, is condemned by Sir H. Davy and 

 other chemists, who assert that, by undergoing fermentation 

 beyond a certain limit, the principles of manure, or those parts 

 which really constitute the food of vegetables, are lost. All 

 gardeners, however, agree in using manures after they have 

 undergone a certain degree of fermentation, without which, it is 

 supposed they would communicate a rank and disagreeable fla- 

 vour to fruits and vegetables, and if applied in an immoderate 

 quantity, would, in a considerable degree, give an unwhole- 

 someness to the juices of all plants. To what particular degree 

 this fermentation should be carried, before the manure be laid 

 on the soil, deserves our particular attention. 



That slight fermentation is of use before application, is un- 

 doubted, for by means of it, a disposition is brought on in the 

 woody fibre to decay and dissolve, when it is carried and dug 

 into the soil ; too great a degree of fermentation is, however, 

 very prejudicial to the manure. It is better, says Sir H. Davy, 

 that there should be no fermentation at all, than that it should 

 be carried too far. The excess of fermentation, he adds, tends 

 to the dissipation and destruction of the most useful pai'ts of 

 the manure, and the ultimate results of this process are like 

 those of combustion. It is a common practice to suffer dung to 

 ferment till the fibrous texture of the vegetable matter be en- 

 tirely broken down, and till the manure becomes perfectly cold 

 and soft: this is the case generally of dung, which has been em- 

 ployed in melon or other hot-beds, and which is generally 

 preferred and used by practical gardeners. During the pro- 

 cess of fermentation necessary to reduce it to this state of 

 decay, not only a large portion of fluid, but also of gaseous 

 matter is lost, so much so, that the dung is often reduced to 

 less than two-thirds of its original weight; and the principal 

 elastic matter, which is lost or disengaged, is carbonic acid with 

 some ammonia, either of which, if retained or conveyed to the 

 soil, is capable of yielding a considerable degree of useful 

 nourishment to plants. 



