274 
JOUEXAL CF HOnriCULTURE AXD COTTAGE' GARDEXER. 
[ April i, IS88. 
■wet iveather ; hettf r by far delay both digging and seed-so-wring till 
more favourable veatlier is experienced. If a good sized plot, or 
enough ground for all the Carrots needed on the place, cannot be 
prepared in the manner described, it may yet be possible to take 
extra pains 'vvith enough for a fe'w long or several short ro'ivs. Over- 
rich, or manure-^ick land, •will not gro’w good Carrots, these also 
being usually infested ■with the insects most injurious to the crop. 
Such ground may frequently be improved by bastard trenching or 
double digging, the shoveliin s brought up and well mixed with 
the surface correcting this. Trenching, as a rule, is not necessary 
for the production of good Carrots, newly trenched land fre¬ 
quently h.a-idng a tendency to grow them far too large. Supposing 
the ground has been manured and trenched for Potatoes, this 
would leave it in excellent condition for Carrots. Where the 
maggot IS very troubhsome, wood ashes should be freely dusted in 
the drills when the seed is sown, and surface dressings of soot are 
not thrown away. 
For the early shows, or those held in May, June, or July, I 
prefer the Nantes Horn. Teit'-h’s Model, also belonging to the 
Horn section, is also fine for exhibition. It is scarcely so long, but 
is thicker than the Nantes Horn. As a rule the best roots of these 
avill be obtained from the beds sown on slight hotbeds early in the 
year and for a time covered with glass These may be drawn from 
for several weeks, a few being left thinly over the bed to grow to 
their utmost, and very handsome and richly coloured they usually 
are. Very good roots of these varieties may be grown on a warm 
border. The drills for them should be drawn about 10 inches 
apart, and the plants gradually thinned out till they are left about 
6 inches apart. For the August and later shows the New Inter¬ 
mediate or Veitch's Matchless is the best, this being a decided 
improvement in every way on the old James’ Intermediate. The 
drills for this, and also the Long Surrey, should anyone prefer this 
for the late shows, ought to be 15 inches ap.art, and the thinning 
out must be commenced as soon as they have formed rough leaves. 
Finally they m.ay be left about 8 inches asunder, a greater space only 
encouraging the production of coarse roots. I ought perhaps to 
add that I consider it unwise to sow the late varieties before the. 
first week in April, and that a summer mulching of short grass 
from the mowing machine, leaf sod, cocoa-nut fibre, or fine peat, is 
preferable to anything in the shape of waterings given in dry 
weather.— Exhibitor. 
ARTIFICIAL MANURES. 
ITHOXTT directly contradicting his previou.sassertions, Mr. H. Dimkin 
has unwittingly supported my o])))osition to his ideas when he advises 
“food that i.s varied in its chemic.il constituents according to the nature 
of the plant th.at is to receive it.’’ Exactly so, and if he will only have 
the goodne.ss to re.ad carefully through my previous article he will find 
that the gist of mv argument is to give only food constituted according 
to the nature of the plant; but your correspondent seems to think that 
this is a well nigh hopeless task, as he says “ A knowledge of chemistry 
ma}" enable us to form various manures which arc likely to supjily the 
most suitable food, yet it is only by practical experience and close 
observation we can find out whether these anticipiations are correct.” I 
must certainly oppose the use of the word “ may ” in the above quobation, 
andotferasubstituteintheword “undoubtedly,” asl considera knowle<lge 
of even the rudiments of chemistry one of the chief items of every 
gardener’s education; and as to “only practical e.vperience and close 
observation,” why I consider these two words (experience and observa¬ 
tion) the whole foundation of successful garclening, coupled perhaps 
with the rather ugly word “ failure,” for is it not through failure that 
continued success o’ften ensues ? 
“ But how am 1 to find out the chemic.al constituents of plants ? ” some 
one says, or in other words, “ analyse 1 he ashes ?” Possibly a difficulty may 
arise here, as everyone is not sufficiently advanced in the higher branches 
of chemistry to pierform this delicate operation successfully. Still there 
are many ways of obitaining the necessary information, for who does not 
know that the Potato contains more than 50 per cent, of pota.sh, and only 
about 4 per cent, of lime, ■while the Cabbagecont.ains but 10 per cent, of 
potash, and nearly 25 per cent, of lime ? and ag.ain, the Gr.ape Vine con¬ 
tains them in nearly equal proportions. Granted that these are undisputed 
facts, cannot they lie u.-^ed to considerable! advantage in the preparation 
of our compost and plant food ? For instance, a cultivator ignorant of 
these facts tre-its his Vines to a course of Peruvian .guano, or some other 
equally heavy ammonia-1,aden substance. No iloubt he would continue 
^PplytRo until, as your correspondent jiuts it, they show signs of 
becoming gross and unfruitful, when if he were made aware of the cause 
he would apply .some other kind of manure, in the hope that it would 
contain “a something” the plants were in need of. Still we must 
think charitably, and ho|)e th.at he would discover his error, and ajiply 
at once manures tliat he knew for certain contained a Large per-centage 
of pot.ash and pdiosphatcs, vrhieh solidify and build uji the woody tissue ; 
but would it not be letter practice to a[)i)ly the solidifying agents in the 
first instance, and so forestall the gross and unfruitful state I 
T am inclined to think .after all the onby <lifference between Mr. 
Dunkin’s practice and what I advocate is, that wh’lc he iircfcrs to give 
the plant a strong stimul.ant to st.art it, and then waits for develop¬ 
ments, .afterwards giving it various compounds as fancy dictates,- I 
prefer to give the plant its foal in .as complete a form so far as my 
slight knowledge of chemistry enables me to do so, and instead of in¬ 
ducing a gross unfruitful growth that I know the .application of some 
compounds will cause, I prefer rather to use such as will build up a 
serviceable tissue from the beginning. 
As to the charge of inconsistenejq in my endeavours to be brief I 
in.advertcntly omitted a saving clause, and, as far as appearances go, 
must admit the imputation. What I should have said was, “That 
artificial manures if properly constituted to meet the requirements of 
the individual species of plants they arc then of the utmost utility to 
the plant grower.” 
Again, as to my appearing to believe that members of the vegetable- 
kingdom are not similar in some respects to those of the animal 
kingdom, I might have been more exi licit. I intended the sentence, 
“ But such I hold is not altogether the case,” should refer to the distaste 
arising sometimes from other causes besides a long course of the same 
kind of food. Still I hold there is some analogy between plant life and 
animal life, and this is what I affirm, “That if the manure or food' 
applied in the first instance is a properly proportioned combin.ation of 
the elements needed for the plant’s or animal's support no diminution of 
its vigour will ensue even after a protracted application.” I may add 
that I believe both the loss of appetite in plants and animals is caused 
by unsuitable varietjq an excess of one element and insufficiency of 
another, especially so in the latter, where food, and I may add drink 
also, that, to use your correspondent’s words, is “ varied in its chemical 
constituents,” is a great destroj'er of appetite. Though change of fooct 
undoubtedly in some instances improves the appetite, on homoeopathic 
lines, I suppose that like cures like, yet it cannot be disputed that the- 
plainer in reason both the animal as well as the vegetable is treated 
the sounder will be the constitution. 
As to Mr. Dunkin’s idea that earths, acids, alkalies, salts, &c., coming- 
into contact with lime, pot.ash, soda, carbonic acid, or ammonia, and 
these again coming into contact with other substances unite and form! 
an altogether different compound, I should certainly agree with him. 
I think I comprehend his meaning, which I t.ake to be that after¬ 
charging the soil with various chemicals, useful and otherwise, the soil 
gets into a state known in garden parlance as sour, while the corre¬ 
sponding state in an animal would be called dyspepsical,^ then for 
the soil apply an agent in lime to disperse the accumulation of ex¬ 
cessive food. However, such matters as renovating old kitchen gardens, 
is a subject by itself for discussion, though I cannot let it pass without 
giving it as my opinion that instead of a good dressing of lime, which 
by Mr. Dunkin’s own showing must be followed up by the same opera¬ 
tion that has partly spoilt the soil—viz., heavy feeding ■with farmyanf 
manure, I would prefer only a very moder.ate amount of lime, and with 
a judicious amount of trenching I should hope to make use of a large 
proportion of the excessi've richn- ss, instead of dispersing it into the air 
by means of heavy liming. 
In reference to the use of nitrate of soda, I am well aw.are of its- 
rapid action on vegetation, but as I said in my previous article, if these 
highly stimulating agents are not backed up by something substantial,, 
the plants are apt to become debilitated after its influence is expended,. 
and 1 do not for one moment dispute the effects produced by Mr. Dun- 
kin on his Erica hyemali.«. I have at several times had chai-ge of plants 
bought in from the market grower, which at the time of purchase looked 
the picture of health, but they h.ad evidently bexn treate*! to a strong 
stimulant, which eventu.ally left them candidates for the rubbish hcap_ 
This, I believe, is the generally prev.alent idea resf ecting the effect pro¬ 
duced by nitrate of .soda alone, and in only one instance do I know of 
its deviation from this rule, this being in a series of experiments with 
different kinds of manures, including bonemeal, native guano, muriate-, 
of {lotash, superphosphate, nitrate of soda, &c., on different portions of a 
pasture. The results were various, bonemeal giving the least, and the 
others in various proportions up to nitrate of soda, which gave effect 
first, and the rather strange part, this portion of the field showed im¬ 
provement for the longer period than did any other part. Possibly as- 
Mr. Dunkin is an advocate for nitr.ate of soda he may throw some 1 ght 
on to this rather peculiar case. I have .some ideas as to the eau.se, but 
will defer them for a time.—M. Coombe, Aaliton Court GardenSf. 
Bristol. 
This subject merits the .attention it has lately received in these- 
p.agcs. Cultiv.ators who are so situated that they can readily procure 
quantities of stable or farmyard manure at all times are fortunate, but 
the majority of garden owners, especially amateurs, are seldom so- 
favoured. I know many parts where natural manures cannot be bought- 
in sufficient quantity, and all sorts of schemes are started to find 
fertilisers. Some of these may be useful, but most of them if not hurtful 
are next to worthless ; and better results woukl be secured by using 
1 cwt. of good artificial manure than half a ton, or indeed a ton, of all 
sorts of rubbish. I approve of converting all kinds of refuse into 
manure, but I cannot recommend much of it as a full s'ubstitute for 
stable manure. Many small gardens are well cultivated, and those who 
use most manure have the best produce as a rule, but I have heard many 
of them say that much of the manure they bought at 3s. Gd. per cart¬ 
load did little or no good excepting to as.sist in opening the soil, and the 
best growers now employ artificials. Really good artificial manure.®, 
such as .are advertised, contain the very essence of plant life, and surely 
it is better to feed vegetation with that wh'ch it uses freely anil to 
