278 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
[ September 27, 1883 
prepared and properly applied the crops get the food they want, and 
benefit accordingly. As such grow strongly and send roots through 
every particle of soil little escapes them, and hardly anything is left 
for the rains of winter to dissipate. 
We think manure is seldom applied economically unless it is 
nearly a year old. But when kept for that length of time in our 
climate, unless it is protected, much is sure to be washed out, and at 
any rate the resulting manure is a soddened mass that “cuts like 
•cheese,” which, though an ideal state with many, is bad, for it is sour 
and cold, and will not spread easily. One of the main conditions 
which should be aimed at in preparing manure should be to have it in 
an easily pulverised state—something like what manure which has 
served the purpose of a hotbed and been protected by frames or pits 
usually is ; otherwise it cannot be properly applied without great 
trouble, and the proper application of manure makes a great differ¬ 
ence in the crop. 
In order to keep off rain and allow of the proper manipulation of 
manure when the weather prevents open-air work, it would be a real 
saving to have roofed-in sheds for the purpose. Here in wet or 
snowy weather manure could be turned and prepared without injury 
either to men or manure. Then enough moisture could be given to 
prevent firing, and yet the manure kept dry enough to be easily 
pulverised. To pulverise it properly we would even for many pur¬ 
poses put it through a gravel screen. The reason for this we hope 
to make apparent by-and-by. 
Fresh manure, no matter how carefully put up, gives out an un¬ 
pleasant smell. This can be very much prevented by the use of 
earth. Old potting soil thrown over a dungheap will deodorise any 
escaping gas and become enriched in the process. When heaps must 
perforce be formed in the open air the escape of foul gases may be 
prevented and the rain thrown off by the same operation if the 
manure is laid up ridge fashion and covered with soil. It pays. 
All garden refuse should be carefully gathered into a heap and 
rotted down. Such makes more valuable manure than that from the 
stables. Some garden vegetables, such as Cabbage and Onion stalks, 
smell offensively when decaying. To prevent this such should be 
mixed with earth. Such things as Cabbage stumps which rot slowly 
should be kept in a place by themselves. 
It is wrong to mix quicklime with ordinary manure or vegetable 
refuse—it dissipates the ammonia; but road scrapings, turf from hedges, 
and such material as the turfy clearings of open drains and ditches, 
are all the better for being mixed with hot lime. It causes not only 
the rapid decay of any vegetation, but sweetens and pulverises the 
soil. Often such material so prepared is the best that can be got for 
mixing with the staple for planting fruit trees in. 
Hotbeds are generally made of leaves and ordinary manure, but 
tan from the leather manufactories serves the same purpose, perhaps 
better. In some places the cleanings of flax or “ pob ” is used, and 
excellent hotbeds for certain purposes it makes. Then horse-drop¬ 
pings are used for Mushroom-growing. All these materials are 
valuable fertilisers after use, and because of the care taken of them 
are generally in first-rate condition for applying to soils. 
Old hotbed manure, which has neither been so wet as to sour nor 
so dry as to fire, constitutes not only a good manure but is suitable 
as the basis of a soil for many purposes. For mixing with loam and 
sand it is the best article for rapidly forwarding most bedding plants 
and many vegetables early in spring. It is also good for mixing 
with soil for rapid-growing plants in pots, the existence of which does 
not extend over a few months, such as Balsams, Celosias, and annuals 
generally. As a matter of fact it is used for by no means ephemeral 
subjects, but is not the best for such. 
Leaf soil is what its name indicates. As Mr. Wright has shown, 
there is leaf soil and leaf soil. He has shown that that formed in 
the usual way is very inferior. This he attributes to the fact of its 
being the product of fermentation ; another reason is that when 
leaves are laid in large heaps too much water is held, and the whole 
becomes sour; another, and perhaps the main cause of its hurtful 
qualities, is the fact that heaps of leaves which lie for many months 
in a wet state are sure to be worked into a puddle by worms ; and 
although these humble creatures certainly perform much useful work 
in the making of mould, leaf soil made by their agency is very bad. 
Plants grown in it do not thrive, not even such robust nurslings as 
Celery or even Cabbage. When the roots of such are examined it 
will seem as if they were rusted ; they are corroded—poisoned. Such 
leaf soil is rich, but not wholesome. The kind Mr. Wright recom¬ 
mends, and the recommendation we can endorse from experience, is 
not rich, but it is wholesome. It is that found where it has accumu¬ 
lated of itself—in woods and neglected spots under trees. Never in 
heaps big enough to heat. Too dry to entice worms to take up their 
abode in it, thin enough to allow rain to pass through and air to 
penetrate, it can hardly be called a manure ; it is soil that particu¬ 
larly suits very many plants that love “ peat.” We need hardly add 
that soil formed from Oak or Beech leaves is much preferable to 
that from Planes and Elms. For many purposes, especially for 
growing Ferns, we have found the decayed fronds of Pteris aquilina 
by no means to be despised ; flaky, porous, sw T eet, it makes a capital 
rooting medium. 
Charred refuse of all kinds, old pea sticks, prunings, and every¬ 
thing that will burn, is of value as a manure, as we have already 
shown. But v T e wish to point out that these should be stored dry, 
for when left to bleaching rains for months they are of little more 
value than dry dust. 
Of the care of artificial manures nothing need be said beyond 
urging the necessity for keeping such very thoroughly dry. Many 
mixtures have the property of taking in moisture from the air and 
becoming lumpy. This should be guarded against, for the value of 
such depends to a great extent on their friability. When scattered 
in pieces even as small Peas or even Onion seed they are half lost. 
No farm and no garden is complete without a liquid-manure tank. 
The farmer wants one to save every drop of liquid manure, the gar¬ 
dener to have a supply always to hand, so that he with the least delay 
and expense possible may be able to give help w 7 hen help is exactly 
needed. Not only so, such a tank might be the means of saving 
much expenditure in addition to securing enhanced crops. There is 
not a dwelling in the country but is capable of furnishing a constant 
supply, and this is far too often lost or worse. Water from closets 
stored in tanks becomes equal to any guano water, and in many cases 
no other is wanted. If tanks to collect such were placed in such 
positions that the water from them could run by gravitation to the 
garden and be distributed by hose, the difference in many gardens 
would be very apparent. But it will pay to pump it and convey 
it in swing barrows. Where it cannot be carried by gravitation hose 
and a force pump is the next best method for distributing it. 
In impervious subsoils ordinary brick tanks well puddled outside 
the brickwork will be perfectly sufficient; but where the subsoil js 
very open, and especially if the tank is at all near any well, in 
addition to the puddling the inside should be carefully cemented. It 
is not a good plan to make tauks very deep, rather make them longer. 
Their width should not be more than 6 or 7 feet, as that breadth can 
easily be arched over. Wood rots and iron rusts in time, and so 
arched brick covers are best; but good large manholes should be left 
through which pails could be easily passed when the sediment needs 
removal. Only glazed pipes with faucet joints very carefully 
cemented should be used. Porous pipes or pipes with faulty joints 
allow the water to dribble away into the subsoil, while the sediment 
remains in the pipe. Open joints, too, encouiage the admission of 
tree roots, which revel in the manure and soon choke the drains. 
Hides, horns, hoofs, hair, and feathers are similar in composition, 
and contain nitrogen equal to 20 per cent, of ammonia, which is the 
only valuable matter in them. They are not of much value to the 
gardener for producing immediate effect, for they decay very slowly. 
Horn shavings and dust are the best form in which they are applied. 
Hair, wool waste, and feathers should be mixed with ordinary manure 
and thoroughly decayed. As they are not often to be had in any 
but trifling quantities nothing further need be here said about them. 
Blood is best prepared by saturating earth with it. Fish is best made 
into a compost with earth. Seaweed is often of more value than 
farmyard manure. It needs no preparation. 
Earth closet, pigeon dung, hen dung, and all similar manures are 
best prepared by mixing them freely with earth, and keeping them 
where the rain cannot reach them till they become mould ; at the same 
time they may be used at once under certain conditions. Tree leaves 
are generaUy used for making hotbeds mixed with manure, or thrown 
into heaps by themselves. They should be treated as directed for 
ordinary manure. When it is intended to have them reduced to 
mould, it is well to turn and re-turn repeatedly, so that air may con¬ 
stantly penetrate, and it should be seen to that they never get too 
wet. Tan mixed with manure to form hotbeds adds very little to the 
value of the manure, but the mixture contains no evil qualities. Tan 
itself is not of much use as manure, but as a mulch for shrubs or 
even Strawberries, and, when decayed, for flower beds, is a very 
useful article.— Single-handed. 
TRINITY COLLEGE BOTANIC GARDENS, DUBLIN. 
There is no time of the year in which this fine old garden is not 
attractive, and at all times a walk around with the Curator, Mr. F. W. 
Burbidge, is of great interest. There are few plants in the extensive 
borders, beds, or houses without a history that even the uninitiated or the 
most casual visitor would wish not to hear. Whenever I go to our Irish 
metropolis on business or otherwise I look forward with much zest to a 
run round with Mr. Burbidge. In winter the warm houses are brilliant 
with Orchids and many stove and greenhouse plants and some of the 
newer and best plants just introduced, while the cooler houses are gay 
with Chrysanthemums and cool Orchids. If tastes lean to spring flowers, 
through the whole of that period there will be a host of the various bulbs 
smiling from cosy nooks or occupying long borders—as do the Narcissi— 
