500 



Manuring of Gardens. 



dressing of farmyard manure every fourth or fifth year, and 

 use the artificials in the intervening years. Farmyard 

 manure, in fact, does something for land that artificials 

 cannot do to any appreciable extent, for it not only supplies 

 crops with food, but it also changes the character of the soil, 

 and in many ways makes it much better adapted for the 

 requirements of plants. This mechanical improvement of 

 the soil is due to the humus which is formed by the decay 

 of the straw and other organic matter in the farmyard 

 manure, and without a good supply of humus no soil can be 

 said to be in a hig'h- class state of fertility. If, therefore, a 

 garden can be well dressed with farmyard manure every third 

 or fourth year, its fertility may be fairly well maintained by 

 the use of artificials in the intervening years ; but if no farm- 

 yard can be got, something else must be used from which 

 humus may be formed. Such substances are rotten turf, the 

 parings of roads, ditch scourings, the cleanings and switch- 

 ings of hedges, garden rubbish, dead leaves, and cut grass ; 

 and if material of this kind be allowed to lie in a heap for a 

 few months before being dug into the soil, it will do much 

 to improve the fertility of a garden. It has not the 

 "strength" of farmyard manure, but that can be supplied by 

 artificials, and it will make the application of the latter much 

 more cartain and effective. Possibly a good many weed seeds 

 may be introduced to the land by the application of such 

 material, but careful hoeing at an early stage will easily get 

 rid of the plants that are thus produced. Ashes will not form 

 humus, but they materially improve the character of land- 

 especially clay soil — and, Avhere available, they should be 

 used to a moderate extent. 



One way in which, it is suggested, the stock of humus in 

 a garden may be increased is to give attention to " green 

 manuring," which consists in growing a crop for the express 

 purpose of digging it into the land. As a rule it will not pay 

 to convert the growth of a whole season into manure, but it 

 will generally be worth while to grow a " catch crop " for the 

 purpose. Early potatoes, peas, and certain other crops are 

 ready for use in July, and between that time and the month 

 of October there are about two months of g'ood gTOwing 



