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use of plants; and when this road sand is mixed 

 with the compost heap and saturated with Hquid 

 manure, it is found to help the efficacy of the com- 

 post in a remarkable manner. Under the influei.ce 

 of road sand of this kind alone, it is said that, when 

 appplied to lawns, white clover is sure to spring up 

 in the greatest abundance and luxuriance where it 

 had never been seen before. 



Malt Dust. — In the preparation of malt for the 

 use of brewers, at what are called Malt Houses, 

 there is produced an article called Malt Dust, con- 

 sisting of minuto fibres or roots, which start out 

 from the barley when it is partially germinated in 

 the lofts. This material is much employed in Eng- 

 land to absorb liquid manure and to form a mulch- 

 ing for potted plants, in the greenhouse and in the 

 orchard house. It is a very neat material for this 

 purpose. It does not readily ferment : it is a good 

 absorbent of liquid manure, and, when decayed or 

 decomposed, is somewhat more valuable than com- 

 mon leaf mould. In this city, it is much fed to .at- 

 tle, and the price is too high for ordinary use in the 

 garden. It sells for about $20 per ton, and I am 

 told it requires more than 100 bushels to weigh a 

 ton. 



Cocoa Nut Fibre or Refuse.— In England, 

 Cocoa- Nut fibre is much emplo3^ed in greenhouses, 

 especially in striking cuttings. It is said to be valu- 

 able, because it never generates fungus. I am not 

 aware that it can be obtained, in any quantity, in 

 America. 



Wool Waste. — The waste and sweepings of 

 woolen mollis, when free from dye-stuffs, may be con- 

 sidered a valuable manure, though rather unpleas- 

 ant to handle. The waste is generally bulky, but 

 rich in fertilizing properties when well rotted. As 

 a mulching for fruit trees and grape vines in pots, 

 I have found it very useful, as it decays very 

 slowly. 



SuLPHATEi) Marble Dust. — In the manuficture 

 of what is known as Mineral Water and Sarsaparilla, 

 sulphuric acid is poured over ground marble in 

 order to liberate from the marble the gas with which 

 the bottles are charged, and the result is a semi- 

 fluid mass of sulphate of lime, having all the essen- 

 tial qualities of plaster of paris, or land plaster. In 

 the making of the so-called Aerated Bread, the 

 same process is performed, — and sulphate of lime 

 of the same character is produced. This sulphated 

 marble dust has generally been treated by the man- 

 ufacturers as a waste or worthless substance ; and 

 hundreds of tons have been thrown out upon the 

 public commons. Manufacturers of artificial ma- 

 nures have, of late years, used some of this waste ; 



and other persons who knew its value have collected 

 it. Its precise manurial value I cannot state, but it 

 is evidently worth handling when it can be had for 

 a small sum per ton. The real action of plaster of 

 paris, which it closely resembles, is not fully under- 

 stood by even the most inte hgent farmers and 

 chemists. As an absorbent of ammonia it is not 

 now held in so much estimation as formerly. Still 

 it is a very useful addition to the compost heap. 

 The usual rate of applying plaster, say one or two 

 bushels per acre, is too small to be of any percepti- 

 ble eff'ect, one way or the other. A ton per acre 

 would not prove injurious to clover, or any other 

 crop. 



Iron Filings. — Iron filings and iron turnings,from 

 the machine shops and blacksmith shops, are pro- 

 bably useful, in very small quantities, applied to 

 grass lands, gardens and orchards. They may also 

 be introduced into the compost heap with advan- 

 tage. 



Old Chip Rubbish.— I mention this to warn 

 gardeners against ir. Many persons think decayed 

 chips and decayed wood or sticks useful as an appli- 

 cation to the garden and to the orchard. This is, 

 probably, a great mistake. Even if well decom- 

 posed, this material would be too poor in fertilizing 

 qualities to be worthy of any consideration ; but in 

 the half-rotted state, in which it is usually seen, it 

 is a prolific source of the most dangerous fungus 

 growths, which assail the roots of nearly all plants, 

 but especially bushes, shrubs and trees. Old chip 

 rubbish should never be admitted into the orchard 

 or garden. Even brush drains, which are some- 

 times made in gardens and orchards, I look upon as 

 exceedingly dangerous. Thousands of shade and 

 fruit trees have been destroyed by the fungus gen- 

 erated by decaying chips, brush and old roots. 



Glue Waste, Wood Ashes, Animal Char 

 coal, from the Sugar Refiners, Bones, &c., are 

 now so well known, and so much economized that 

 they f-an scarcely be considered as waste or refuse 

 substances ; nor can they be obtained, as a general 

 thing, at reasonable prices. 



To the eye of the scientific gardener there is no 

 object of greater or more varied interest than the 

 well managed compost heap. Stockhardt, in his 

 Chemical Field Lectures, very elegantly and forci- 

 bly says: — "From the disgusting substances of de- 

 cay spring again the living wonders of the Vegeta- 

 ble World." 



But it is not as a mere mass of decaying sub- 

 stances of an off"ensive character, that the scientific 

 gardener views his manurial compost. He sees, in 

 the compost heap, not decay, but chemical change. 



