110 
FLORICULTURAL (ECONOMICS. 
We must proceed, however, to the main object of our remarks— the best modes 
of economizing the fertilizing powers of manures, and so putting a far better aspect 
on the products of the flower-garden and plant-houses at a much less cost. 
The principal power of all manures lies in the peculiar gases or salts which 
they contain ; and the manner in which these things are lost is by exhalation, 
consequent on exposure to the air. All the effluvia arising from a manure heap 
is, in fact, its essential virtue ; and the escape of this must, of course, materially 
weaken the good properties of the manure. Half the decayed stable refuse 
which is generally used for manuring ground, is destitute of nearly all power as 
a fertilizer, and acts mainly in a beneficial way, by helping to pulverize the soil 
and keep it open. 
It is, therefore, the great question, in preparing manure of this kind, how 
those properties which act as nutriment to plants can be best retained, and pre- 
vented from evaporating. 
By far the most simple method of accomplishing this, is to keep the manure 
constantly covered over with some material that would absorb the ammonia, and 
interrupt its passage into the atmosphere. In almost all frame grounds, and 
places where stable litter is employed to furnish heat, and where, consequently, 
the cultivator has to go for the bulk of whatever manure he may apply to his 
plants, this manure, even while it is fermenting, is mostly seen in an uncovered 
state, some parts of its surface being more or less exposed to the air. And when 
heat is no longer required from it, heaps are made of it, or it is left lying about 
till it is needed for use. As a m.atter of course, besides losing much of its heating 
power, it wastes a large proportion of its nutritiveness. In addition to which, if 
it remain thus during the spring or part of the summer, nearly the whole of its 
virtue is exhaled, on account of the increased action of the atmosphere upon it at 
those seasons. 
"When, again, the same kind of manure is taken to the compost-yard, and left 
lying there for a long period prior to being used in the preparation of soil for 
potting, or for filling borders, the continued action of the sun upon it abstracts the 
greater part of its strength, and it then becomes chiefly or entirely serviceable for 
its porousness, and for the open character it gives to the compost. 
Nothing can be easier than the counteraction of these evils. A layer of dry 
litter, weeds, other rubbish, or even clay, spread over a dung-bed or mass, or 
over the linings to a frame, would cut ofi* nearly the whole of the action of the 
atmosphere upon it, and keep in the essential properties of the manure. The 
same application would also be appropriate for a heap of manure in the compost* 
yard or shed ; only it would be better to cover with earth alone, choosing a rather 
strong kind of loam. The latter, by imbibing the gases from the manure, would 
become an excellent soil for strong-growing plants. 
Such are the simple measures by which every cultivator might save yearly a 
considerable portion of manure, and, what is of much more importancOj he would 
