220 
JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 
Decomposed seaweeds form an excellent manure for Potatos, 
Turnips, and almost all vegetables, their composition being 
chiefly nitrate of potash. 
Fish as a Manure. 
The refuse of the fisheries and whole fish are often used as 
manure. The best way to use them is in the form of a compost 
made with three or four times their weight of earth, with 
alternate layers of lime. The heap is finally covered with earth 
to prevent the loss of ammonia during the fermentation. By 
this method the fish are rapidly decomposed, and make a rich 
compost, which may be used at the rate of about 1| tons per 
acre. 
Chloride of Sodium {Coinmon Salt). 
Salt has been used as a manure from very ancient times. 
Its action upon plant-life is not thoroughly understood. It acts 
chemically and mechanically upon the land, producing various 
changes therein which are beneficial to crops. Salt destroys 
weeds, noxious insects, snails, and slugs. It retains moisture 
in dry sandy soils. 
Asparagus, Turnips, Beet, Seakale, and various crops are 
benefited when occasionally dressed with slight sprinklings of 
salt ; but care should be taken that none falls on the growing 
leaves. 
Befuse Material as Manure. 
Woollen rags are largely used in Kent as a manure for hops. 
Wool contains a large proportion of mineral matter — chiefly 
potash salts — but very little inorganic matter is found in woollen 
rags or shoddy. Woollen rags and shoddy decompose very 
slowly in the ground. They should be dug in five or six months 
before they are required to act ; there will, however, probably 
be but few gardens in which they are used. 
Dried or liquid blood is an excellent manure for vines, and 
when of good quality it contains about 15 per cent, of ammonia. 
Soot is generally employed as a top dressing in spring, and for 
making soot-water, whose virtues are known to all gardeners. 
Economical Employment of Manures, do. 
It is obviously to the gardener's no less than to the farmer's 
interest in these days to sec that he gets the largest return from 
