78 



ORANGE CULTURE. 



T\-ood, and dead leaves will answer almost, if not quite, as well. 



This supj)lies the humus element of plant growth, next a 

 laver of cotton seed,, costing ten cents per bushel at the gin-mill, 

 or fourteen cents delivered within three miles. This is a valuable 

 fertilizer, especially so when thus composted, and contains four 

 per cent, of nitrogen, three per cent, of potash, and three per 

 cent, of phosphoric acid — a ton of the seed being worth seventy- 

 two dollars as manure — another layer of muck, then one of stable 

 manure, another of green trash with muck again ; these thor- 

 oughly wetted at the time of piling, and worked over once or 

 twice, will in three months' time furnish the thrifty orange grow- 

 ers with as hue a fertilizer for his trees as any money could j^ur- 

 chase, especially if some days before applying to the trees his 

 means permit him to whiten the land ^ith lime or ground plaster. 



The cajDabilities of a compost heap are, in fact, almost un- 

 limited ; it is a take-all, and hold-all receptacle, of which, one 

 may truly say, all is fish that comes to its net. 



Nothing that is subject to decay comes ami.ss — rags, old 

 clothes, old shoes, old newspapers, trash of all sorts, kept moist 

 wuth liquid manure, or house slops, etc., will in a few months be- 

 come useful and available plant food. 



Every animal that dies on the farm should be dismembered 

 and buried deep in the compost to join a valuable element there- 

 of^ — lirtfe, land plaster, ashes, poultry guano — all these add vastly 

 to the supply of plant food furnished by the compost ; but be it 

 known and heeded that ashes and poultry guano should never 

 be mixed, as the ammonia of the former will thereby be liber- 

 ated; neither should lime and stable manure be composted to- 

 gether, for the same reason. 



Land plaster may, however, be fi'eely used with great benefit, 

 especially when applied directly above a layer of either guano 

 or stable manure, as it prevents their ammonia from escaping. 



AVhere one can afibrd to purchase bone-meal, making sure 

 that it is genuine, it will pay liberally to apply light layers of it 

 to the compost heap. 



A few years ago the relative value of bone-meal and stable 

 manure was tested with the following results : 



