December i, 1890.I 
THE TROf>lOAL A^Rlt3t3t.TURlST, 
459 
MANURE FOR THE GARDEN. 
A capital little essay on the use of nitrate of soda 
for manure, and the best mode of its employment, 
has just issued from the able pen of Mr. Joseph 
Harris, M.S., of New York, of which wa will give 
some extracts, specially written for gardeners. 
Farmers and gardeners sometimes express surprise 
that agricultural chemists talk so much about nitrogen. 
When it is known, however, that of all the organic 
matter of plants aod manures — in other words, all 
the matter which is driven off by burniog — the only 
element of auy direct value as plant-food is nitrogen, 
it will be readily seen that nitrogen is entitled to 
even greater attention than it at present receives. 
Gardeners and fruit-growers fully recognise the 
value of stable and farmyard manure, In a ton of 
ordinary manure, containing 75 per cent, of water, 
there is 1275 lb. of organic matter and 225 lb. of ash. 
Except for its mechanical and indirect benefit to the 
soil, all the manurial value of this quantity of organic 
matter is due to the nitrogen which it contains. Is 
it any wonder, therefore, that we hear so much about 
nitrogen ? 
Nitrate of Soda for Onion.s. 
An average crop of Onions removes from the soil 
about the sime amount of nitrogen as an average 
crop of Turnips; but a crop of Onions will often sell 
for three, or four, or five times as much as the latter. 
On Mr. Harris’ farm, Onions are extensively grown, 
and he finds it necessary to make the land -exceedingly 
rich, especially in nitrogen and phosphates. And of 
all manures for producing a large crop of Onions, 
nothing equals nitrate of soda. 
When this manure was first used, 250 lb. per acre 
were sown early in the spring, before drilling-io the 
Onion seed, with 500 lb. per acre of superphosphates. 
As soon as the young plants appeared, it was the 
custom to go through them with the hoe to break 
the crust and kill the weeds, and then sow 250 lb. 
more of nitrate. In two or three weeks, another 
250 lb. per acre was sown. The eSects were found to 
be astonishing; no amount of ordinary manure that 
could be worked into the soil the first season would 
produce so groat a growth. Latterly it has been 
thought quite as well to sow the nitrate broadcast all 
^ once, about the time the seed is sown. 
Why is it Found Necessary to Use so much 
Manure in the Garden ? 
Reference has been made to the great benefit derived 
from the use of nitrate of sola on Onions. There 
is a common opinion that the longer Onions are grown 
year after year, on the same land, in market garden- 
ing, the better will be the crop. Enormous quantities 
of dung are applied every year. This supplies nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid, potash, and other ingredients of plant- 
food far in excess of the amount removed with the 
crop. And yet it is found nscessary to furnish a heavy 
dressing of manure every year ; and if this be not 
done the crop is poor and unprofitable. 
The same is true of early Cabbages and early 
Cauliflowers. It is found necessary to use enormous 
quantites of manure for these crops — far in excess of 
the plant-food removed in the crop. Gardeners who 
make a specialty of growing largo areas of early Cab- 
bage, find it almost impossible to make the land rich 
enough the first year; they find that the second or 
third crop, grown and manured every year on the same 
land, is better and earlier than the first crop. 
An experienced American gardener recommends the 
application every year of 75 to 80 tons of stable- 
manure per acre for early Cabbage, and 10 tons per 
acre for late Cabbage, This 75 tons of manure con- 
tains 820 lb. of nitrogen, or as much nitrogen as 5,100 
lb. of commercial nitrate of soda probably contains. 
Ten thousand early Cabbage per acre, weighing 5 lb. 
•\ch is a good crop. , 
These Cabbage (25 tons per acre), contains 120 lb 
of nitrogen, equal to 750 lb. of nitrate of soda- In 
other words, gardeners use nearly 7 lb. of nitrogen 
in the form of manure to got back 1 lb. of nitrogen 
in the crop. 
It is now known that the nitrogen in the organic 
matters of the soil or manure is slowly converted into 
nitric acid by the growth of a minute organism, 
apparently a micro-coccus. This micro-coccus cannot 
grow if the soil be too cold, or too wet, or too dry, 
or in the absence of lime or an alkali. 
As a general rule, there is no lack of lime in the 
soil, and the other conditions necessary for the con- 
version of the nitrogen into nitric acid, are warm 
weather, and a moist porous soil. 
In the early spring the soil is too wet and too cold 
for the change to take place ; we must wait for warm 
weather. But the gardener, who grows for sale, does 
not want to wait ; he makes his profits largely from 
his “ yearly ” crops. Guided only by experienc* and 
tradition, he fills his land with manure, and even then 
he gets only a moderate crop the first year. He puts 
on 75 tons more manure the next year, and gets a 
better crop ; and another 75 tons the next year, and 
gets a still better crop. The »itrogen of the soil, or 
of roots and plants, or dung, is retained in the soil 
in a comparatively inert condition. As it is slowly 
converted into nitric acid during warm weather, the 
plants take it up and grow rapidly. Unfortunately, 
however, if we have no plants growing in the autumn, 
and there is much nitric acid left unused in the soil, 
the rains of winter and early spring wash out a large 
proportion of it, and it sinks into the subsoil. 
How, thon, is the market gardener to get the nitric 
aciil absolutely necessary for the growth of his early 
plants? He gets it, as before stated, from an ex- 
cessive and continuous nse of stable manure, and 
even then he fails to get it in sufficient quantity. 
One thousand pounds of nitrate of soda will furnish 
more nitrogen to the plants early in the spring than 
the gardener can get from 75 or 100 tons of well- 
rotted stable-manure. The stable manure will furnish 
nitric acid for his later crops ; but for his early crops, 
the gardener who fails to use nitrate of soda, is said 
to be blind to his own interests. 
The same remarks apply with equal force to Celery 
plants. For several years, the writer has grown over 
a million Celery plants a year. By the use of an 
enormous amount of rich manure, he was able to 
grow good outdoor Celery plants. 
Bight years ago, he used nitrate of soda cautiously 
as a top-dressing, and the effect was most satisfactory. 
The next year, having more confidence, the nitrate 
was sown with the seed, another dressing was given 
after the plants came up, and twice afterwards an 
application was made during rain. Instead of finding 
it difficult as before to get the plants early enough for 
the Celery growers, who set them out, they were ready 
three weeks before the usual time of transplanting. 
At the four applications, about 1,600 lb. of nitrate of 
soda per acre was used, and this would probably 
furnish more nitrate acid to the plants than they 
could got from .500 tons of stable-manure, provided it 
had been possible to have worked such a quantity 
into the soil. It was said that never were finer plants 
grown ; and compared with the increased value of the 
plants, the cost of the nitrate is sta*'ed not to be worth 
taking into consideration. 
The next year the same treatment afforded equally 
good results, though it was noticed that on part of 
the laud where Celery plants had been grown the 
previous year, and followed afterwards by a crop of 
late Cucumbers for pickles, and the land again sown 
to Celery in the spring without manure, the plants 
were not so good as when dung, as well as nitrate, 
was used. 
It is now the aim to dung the land in the autumn, 
and use nitrate of soda in the spring. In other words, 
nitrate of soda is not used as a substitute for dung, 
but as a highly prized and invaluable addition. 
Nitrate of Soda and Drought. 
Celery is a semi-aquatic plant. It delights in an 
abundant supply of water. But it is found that nitrate 
of soda is in part a substitute for water, and the same 
is true of many other plants. In the dry climate of 
America, Pansies are supposed to require a damp soil 
or large supplies of water. But it has been found that 
