THE CULINARY GARDEN. 



45 



nure for light hot soils ; it is also well calculated for soils of a 

 dry absorbent nature, as it retains its moisture for a greater 

 length of time than most others. 



Green vegetable matter is an excellent manure, but less 

 attended to than it ought to be. All plants in a succulent state 

 contain much saccharine or mucilaginous matter, and therefore 

 cannot be used too soon after their death. It has been the 

 practice to carry all vegetable matter considered as useless to 

 the compost yard, and, by collecting it in a mass, a quantity 

 of vegetable mould or manure, has thus been procured; but 

 this is a great waste of the best parts of the manure, and should 

 only be adopted when such vegetable mould may be required 

 for particular purposes. Instead of collecting all the weeds, 

 useless vegetables, &c., in a garden to one heap, let the follow- 

 ing simple mode be adopted. When a piece of ground is going 

 to be dug, go round and collect all the decaying vegetables, 

 &c., and immediately dig them in. The sweepings of grass- 

 walks and lawns are also of much use as a vegetable manure ; 

 and on being brought every day into the garden, they should be 

 dug in, before fermentation commences. But it must be observed 

 that they should not be buried at too great a depth, otherwise 

 fermentation will be prevented by compression, and the exclu- 

 sion of air. Green crops, pond-weeds, the parings of hedges 

 or ditches, fresh turf, or any kind of fresh vegetable manure, 

 require no preparation to fit them for manure. The decom- 

 position slowly proceeds under ground, the soluble matters are 

 gradually dissolved, and the slight fermentation that goes on, 

 checked by the want of a free communication of air, tends to 

 render the woody fibre soluble, without occasioning the rapid 

 dissipation of elastic matter. 



Sea-weeds, where they can be procured, make excellent 

 manure for most vegetables, but particularly for sea-kale, arti- 

 chokes, and asparagus. This manure is transient in its effects, 

 and does not last more than for a single crop, which is accounted 

 for by its containing a large portion of water, or the elements 

 thereof. It decays without producing heat when exposed 

 to the atmosphere, and seems, as it were, to melt down and 

 dissolve away. It is sometimes suffered to ferment before it is 

 used, but this is quite unnecessary, for there is no fibrous 



