HOW TO FERTILIZE. 



77 



Here is one of the many proofs that there are two distinct 

 classes of manures — one serving as the actual food of plants, the 

 other assisting in preparing that food by combining with the 

 substance in the soil and bringing into a form that the plants 

 can assimilate, or by changing such as would be inimical to the 

 vegetable life and for its mediation. 



Thus, for instance, when we apply lime to a newly broken 

 piece of land v/hich is mucky, we say that the lime has " sweetened 

 it," because its action on the carbonic acid contained in the muck 

 is such as to change by combination that which would other- 

 wise be hurtful to vegetation, and to transform it to a valuable 

 manure. 



Every orange grower should prepare a compost heap as one 

 of the very first steps to successful cultivation. 



Make a pen of any desired size with posts for the corners, 

 boarded sides, and a tight board floor for convenience in filling : 

 it is well to have one side made so that the boards can be added 

 or broken away at will ; two perpendicular strips at each end, 

 with space between to allow the boards to move up and down, 

 will be found very handy. 



The tight board bottom is very important, o.s it saves all the 

 liquid manure that would otherwise wash down in the ground 

 and be lost ; but even more so is a roof to cover the compost 

 from the destroying eftect of the sun, and also to shecf heavy 

 rains, at least partially. 



No thrifty or intelligent man will allow his compost or stable 

 manure to be exposed to the sun and rain, knowing as he does, if 

 he have any ordinary knowledge of his business, that fully two- 

 thirds of its value is thus wasted. A pile of stable manure or 

 comjDost leached by sun and rain is a pitiable spectacle of slov- 

 enly farming, and the man who pursues this method may be sure 

 he will never prosper, no more than the man who leaves his 

 store open for thieves to enter and carry off his most valued 

 stock-in-trade. 



The compost pit prepared, the first thing to do is to put on 

 a layer of muck about six inches thick, or if muck is not to be 

 had, grass, weeds, sawdust, pine needles, pine burrs, rotten sap- 



