MANURES FOR THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 



167 



with the nitric acid, which is formed so as to produce a 

 neutral solution which the crop can take up, are ques- 

 tions which science has not yet fully determined. A soil 

 may be very rich in organic matter or stable manure, 

 and be in a condition similar to that of some of the mar- 

 ket gardens, and still be unproductive, because the con- 

 ditions are not favorable to the production and growth of 

 their fungus-like plant. This is one of the great discov- 

 eries of modern agricultural science, and explains and 

 emphasizes the importance, not only of judicious fertil- 

 izing, but also of thorough cultivation and drainage. 

 When the weather is warm and moist this fermentation 

 or growth of the yeast plant is going on to develop and 

 convert organic matter into a form of plant food which 

 can be assimilated by the growing crop. Sometimes, 

 however, there is not sufficient organic matter in the soil, 

 or the conditions of the weather are not favorable to the 

 growth of this yeast plant. Then concentrated fertiliz- 

 ers come in and supply organic matter, and also such 

 chemical salts as potash and lime, which are needed 

 where this fermentation is going on. They also supply 

 forms of plant food which have already gone through this 

 stage of fermentation, and are ready for the plant to take 

 up, and which the plant will take up if the material is 

 soluble in water. 



' ' People who apply cart-load after cart-load of manure 

 to heavy land in the spring, or bag after bag of undecom- 

 posed animal matter, such as fish or blood, forget that 

 before these can nourish a plant they have to go through 

 a process of decay or nitrification, and that decay is due 

 to bacteria. 



" From my remarks so far you may infer that compost- 

 ing manure is absolutely necessary in market gardening. 

 Most certainly it is if you rely upon stable manure en- 

 tirely, and are growing several crops on the same land 

 during the season. Now some of you will remember that 

 last year I said we could not afford to compost, and urged 

 that you apply your manure directly to the land. I still 

 adhere to that position In composting there must be 

 more or less yeast-waste. If the manure is put into the 

 soil and the soil is warm, and regularly cultivated, the 

 yeast plants will be developed, and the food rendered 

 available. You have stored your land so full of organic 

 matter that no doubt during the growing season there is 

 enough plant food liberated from it to sustain many crops, 

 and your aim is to keep up the balance in the soil so that 

 the crops shall never lack for sufficient nourishment. 



"This, it seems to me, is a slow and old-fashioned pro- 

 cess. Can you afford to wait for nature to liberate the 

 plant food through fermentation '' Chemistry has come 

 to the aid of man, and shows him a process by which 

 several of the chemicals can be prepared, ready for the 

 plant. In short, it enables the farmer to save time and 

 take advantage of methods which have been worked out 

 in the laboratory. 



' ' There is also another practical phase to this question. 

 Many of the crops, such as early cabbages, fall celery 

 and spring spinach, are crops which are in the soil when 



the conditions for fermentation are not favorable, and 

 unless the soil is stocked with plant food which has al- 

 ready bean made available, they will not grow. Here 

 again comes in the value of chemicals, which will nourish 

 as soon as they enter the soil." 



At the conclusion of Mr. Bowker's paper much time 

 was spent in discussing the point, whether it w^as good 

 policy to plow manure into the soil in the fall. It was 

 noticed that the affirmative speakers were those who tilled 

 the heavy retentive soils. To those thus situated, plowing 

 in the manure in the fall had the tendency to admit of 

 earlier working in the spring. The speakers with nega- 

 tive views, it was noticed, were those working the lighter 

 sandy soils, soils which admitted plowing as early as 

 April roth, and further to increase their earliness the 

 manure was partially fermented in the pile by frequent 

 turning over before applying in the spring, thus making 

 it more soluble and available for early plant growth. 

 Many of these latter speakers contended that if manure 

 was applied in the fall the coldness of the soil prevented 

 any fermentation, and the spring time would find it in the 

 same condition as when put on in the fall before 



To the question of Mr. Sullivan, of Revere, whether it 

 was good economy to spread manure upon frozen ground 

 in winter time. Mr. Bowker replied that if the land did 

 not wash he could see no harm in so doing. If there is 

 much wash the urates of the manure might enrich his 

 neighbor's land. 



Mr. Frost, of ]-ielmont, spoke in very pronounced terms 

 against winter application of manure, for during spells 

 when the ground was free from snow, the wind carried the 

 manure hither and thither to other pieces of land where 

 lie did not want it. He had the past season experimented 

 upon that plan, and he found that early cabbages raised 

 upon spring manured land were ahead of those grown on 

 land manured in the winter. 



Mr. Philbuck, of Newton, considers stable manure at 

 ^■2 per cord cheaper plant food than commercial fertil- 

 izers. Stable manure, in addition to actual plant food, 

 exerted a beneficial mechanical action upon the soil 



Mr. Bowker, at this point of the discussion, stated that 

 he would not have it understood that he would have mar- 

 ket gardeners dispense with stable manure altogether. 

 He would have them use only enough stable manure to 

 keep up the vegetable tilth, and supplement it with con- 

 centrated fertilizers. He would advocate that course on 

 the score of economy, for what need is there in carting 

 manure eight to ten miles out of the cities to get only 

 twenty-five pounds of actual plant food to the ton ''. For, 

 according to Prof. Goessman, that is all the plant food 

 there is in two thousand pounds of stable manure, the 

 remaining 1,975 pounds being silicates and organic mat- 

 ter that most market gardens contain. 



The market gardener near our large cities, working 

 high-priced land, is compelled to use some stable manure, 

 but upon the cheaper interior land a part of the garden 

 can remain in grass, and from time to time this grass 

 land can be turned over, thus furnishing the same kind of 

 organic matter that is contained in stable manure. The 



