Manuring of Gardens. 



499 



the business has been conducted. Since the close of the 

 year 1897-8 the Board have approved of further loans to 

 fourteen banks. . ■ 



It may be noted that the Societies' Borrowing Powers Act, 

 passed in the 1898 Session of Parliament, empowers these 

 agricultural banks, which are registered under the Friendly 

 Societies Act, to borrow money from persons other than 

 their own members. 



ManurinCt of Gardens. 



A pamphlet entitled " Notes on Garden Manuring," pre- 

 pared by Dr. Somerville, Professor of Agriculture and 

 Forestry at the Durham College of Science, for distribution 

 by the County Councils of Northumberland, Cumberland, 

 and Durham, furnishes some useful hints relative to the 

 application of fertilisers to market-garden land, and to 

 kitchen- and cottage-gardens. 



Of the two classes of manures — farmyard and artificial — 

 it is observed in the pamphlet that if plenty of the former be 

 available the gardener need not trouble himself much about 

 the other, though even then a little is sometimes useful in 

 starting a crop, or for forcing show " vegetables. But to 

 give satisfactory results, farmyard manure must be at least 

 four months old and well rotted : fresh manure, or manure 

 that has been kept too dry, has often a disappointing effect, 

 and this is more frequently the case when it comes from a 

 stable than from a byre. 



Most gardeners have, however, a difficulty in obtaining a 

 plentiful supply of good farmyard manure, so that they are 

 forced to look out for something else. They see farmers 

 using artificials on their fields with good results, and are 

 often disposed to give such manures a trial in their gardens. 

 Now, although artificial manures may generally be profitably 

 employed for assisting the growths of all kinds of crops, they 

 do not offer a complete substitute for farmyard manure. 

 Very few farmers attempt to fertilise their land by means ot 

 artificials only ; in the great majority of cases they apply a 



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