LIQUID MANURES. 
241 
a waste to give it to plants before the formation of 
their secondary leaves , which is true in all cases. 
If applied at other periods, it will have some 
effect, hut not so much. When applied directly 
to thq plants, it is preferable to use it in show¬ 
ery weather; for let it always be remembered, 
that, during warm and dry weather, plants ab- 
Liquid-Manure Cart.—Fig. 51. 
sorb fluids faster than when it is cool and dull, 
and that they perspire most in a dry, warm at¬ 
mosphere. If the supply at the roots, therefore, 
is not kept up, then they become deteriorated in 
quality, and the produce is considerably less¬ 
ened. The practice of pouring manure water 
immediately around the stem of a plant should 
be avoided, for two reasons; first, the roots, 
which absord most, are in or approaching the 
centres of the spaces between the drills or rows; 
therefore, to be benefitted by it, the liquid should 
be distributed there. Another very important 
matter, common in vegetable culture, should not 
be lost sight of; that is, by applying the liquid 
in a limited circle around the plants, individu¬ 
ally, as the roots have less inducement to travel 
Liquid-Manure Hand Cart.— Fig. 52. 
in search of food; hence, they will be fewer 
in number. But if their food be placed at a 
greater, yet a reasonable distance from them, 
they will seek it out by instinct, as it were, fresh 
roots will be emitted, and they will have a much 
larger pasture to feed in. 
When the liquid manure is to be used for ! 
watering the plants, a portion of it is pumped I 
out of the tank into casks, fixed on watering 
carts, denoted by fig. 49 and fig. 50; and then 
diluted with 5 or 6 times its bulk of water, and 
allowed to flow gently over the surface of the 
land between the plants, either by letting it 
run, when clear, through a tube perforated with 
holes, or upon a plank, when thick or turbid. 
A portable liquid-manure cart has lately been 
constructed in England, denoted by fig. 51. It is 
made of iron plates, securely cemented and bolt¬ 
ed together, and contains 200 gallons. It is 
mounted on wheels, four feet, ten inches high, 
with a new pattern half-round tire, four and a 
half inches wide. The tank body is fitted 
with a brass outlet valve, acted upon with an 
iron-lever rod, with which the driver opens 
and closes the valve whilst walking by the side 
of the horse. The pendulum-spreading appar¬ 
atus, with regulating slide front, is adapted to 
water uneven land six feet broadcast. A parti¬ 
tion, running lengthwise the inside of the tank, 
prevents the surge and overflow of its contents 
when upon rough land or bad roads. A sim¬ 
ple contrivance, also, consisting of a box trough, 
and four flexible India-rubber tubes, is made to 
water four rows or ridges of turnips any re¬ 
quired width at a time; two lads, with a handle 
in each hand, guide the delivering tubes in ap¬ 
plying the liquid manure, guano water, dis¬ 
solved bones, bleacher’s ley, soap suds, diluted 
night soil, &c. 
Meadows just mown, or fields sown with grain, 
may also be thus watered, as the vegetative 
force, imparted by this liquid manure, although 
of short duration, may have a great influence ; 
for, once covered with green young plants, the 
ground is protected from drought; and, more¬ 
over, the plants themselves, by this means, rap¬ 
idly acquire the necessary strength to resist va¬ 
rious adverse influences, and to draw from the 
soil and atmosphere their quota of nourishment. 
Another mode of spreading this manure, as 
has long been practised in Flanders, is, to take 
