172 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 17. 
position and evaporation, by the retention of manure in the 
dry state, or in its application as top-dressings, is saved by 
its being diluted and carried in water beneath the surface of 
the soil amongst the roots. The more minute subdivision 
of manures in the liquid form facilitates their rapid decompo¬ 
sition and complete absorption, and there are various 
examples to show that one load of solid manure, properly 
liquified with sufficient water, will have four or five times 
the fertilising power that it would have if applied in the 
solid form. 
“Mr. Barber, of Muirdrockwood, in Kirkcudbrightshire, 
has twenty-seven acres of land before his house, naturally 
of so poor a quality that it originally served for the feeding 
of two cows only, and that poorly. He put the dung of forty 
cows with that of four horses which he kept in a stable close 
to his house, into a tank, through which he passed a rill of 
water, and irrigated with the solution twenty-two acres of the 
poor land below. With the miscellaneous refuse of his 
house and scullery five acres were irrigated. The produce 
from the same twenty-seven acres of land, fertilised by the 
liquid manure,, now enables him to fodder forty cows and 
four horses. An important experiment was also tried, 
showing the comparative results of the effects of liquid 
and solid manure on similar land. There were some knolls 
of land close by, which being elevated, not having the use 
of the hose, he could not irrigate; upon this land he could 
only apply manure in the solid form as top dressing, and 
whilst he has obtained four or five fold crops by the applica¬ 
tion of liquid-manure, with all the top-dressings he has been 
able to use he has never succeeded in getting more than one- 
and-a-half fold of produce by the dung unliquified. 
“ On Mr. P. W. Kennedy’s farm at Myer Mill, in Ayrshire, 
the general result of the application of the farm-yard 
manure in the liquid form, and its distribution in four times 
its weight in water, by means of steam power through fixed 
and flexible pipes, was, that five times as many cattle were 
fed on the same ground as had been fed previously, and this 
j without any addition to the manure bought for the farm, and 
with an increase instead of a diminution of the fertility of 
the soil. 
“ The recent and important experience of Mr. Pusey 
presents analogies to the instance above cited. 
“ Being, as he states in a letter to Mr. Chadwick, like most 
arable farmers, in difficulty as to the live stock for convert¬ 
ing profitably his straw into dung, he made arrangements 
lor decomposing it in water, liquifying it, and throwing it in 
the liquid state upon the land, availing himself of a very 
small rivulet, which he made to run through his farm-yards, 
and catch the juices of the dung after rain, and liquify the 
solid manure there. At such times he takes care ‘ that the 
water shall be so applied as to run into the land, and not 
escape beyond it into the outfall. This is easily contrived 
by the waterman.’ With this stream, (which is ‘ muddy 
during and after rain from the washing of the manure of 
farm-yards, the organic refuse from the houses in Pusey, 
and from the roads,’) when he considers it in its best state, 
he fertilizes a considerable area of land, previously not worth 
more than about 5s. per acre, and from that same land, and 
by these means, he obtains four and five fold crops, an 
extent of fertility far beyond anything obtained or practi¬ 
cable by top-dressings, with the available manure in the 
solid form. 
“ Mr. Lee, the inspector, in whose Report Mr. Pusey’s 
work is described in detail, thus states the effect of the 
irrigation with the liquified manures :— 
“ ‘ The whole of the annual produce from any of this 
land has not been either measured or weighed; but Mr. 
Pusey said, while we were examining the part first irrigated, 
that the first crop cut was estimated at a ton-and-a-half to 
the acre. Sheep were then turned on repeatedly, and the 
whole annual produce was estimated to equal the keep of 
thirty-six sheep per acre during five months.’ 
1 It appears to be important to bear in mind the fact 
already referred to, in the experience of horticulturists, that 
an extent of dilution such as extinguishes smell, is about 
the best for absorption and assimilation by the plant; that 
all the progress of horticultural improvement is made by 
diluting more and more, and applying the diluted manure 
more and more frequently. A very experienced horticul¬ 
turist, Mr. l’ince, of Exeter, states that he has arrived at 
this point, that he applies the liquid manure twice a week, 
and with one of plain water in the interval between each 
watering with the liquid manure. He gets rid of fibrous 
matter, and, to use his own expression, ‘ I give this water 
with the manure in it so clear, that if you were not to know 
what it was, you would not object to drink it.’ The conclu¬ 
sions are all in favour of frequent applications of manure in 
solution, of getting rid as much as possible of fibrous 
matter, and of much greater dilution than has been hitherto 
customary, or indeed generally practicable while the liquid 
manure has to be carried by human or animal power. 
“ One practical reason for this course on the part of horti¬ 
culturists is, the perception by them, that not only does the 
fibrous matter tend to clog the pores of the soil, or in some 
such way impede the process of vegetation, but that every 
portion of fibrous matter is apt to become a nidus for ani¬ 
malcules. It commonly escapes the farmer’s attention, that 
eacli mass of exposed dung becomes a source of devastating 
insects, which he unwittingly in that form spreads over his 
fields, frequently with the seeds of unsuspected and in¬ 
jurious weeds. 
“A further reason, however, for the superior success which 
has attended all careful applications of manure in the liquid 
form appears in the fact that all solid matter, the separate 
particles of which are visible to the eye, must be decomposed 
before it can be absorbed by a plant. The most powerful 
microscopes fail to detect the apertures to the spongioles in 
plants ; if, therefore, there be any fibrous matter or particles 
of manure visible to the eye, the fact is conclusive that that 
manure is not in a fit condition for assimilation by the plant. 
‘ All attempts,’ says Bousingault, ‘ to make plants absorb 
solid bodies in a state of minute division, and held in sus¬ 
pension in water, have been ineffectual. In these attempts 
the spongioles have acted precisely like perfect filters, with i 
which those that we employ in our laboratories cannot be ; 
compared. Further, the weakest solutions are not entirely 
absorbed by certain roots ; a kind of separation takes place; 
a portion of the dissolved salt appears to abandon the water 
at the moment of its penetrating the spongiole.’ When the 
roots of plants are placed in solutions of gum, sugar, or i 
starch, they thrive, if the solutions are thin; but if thick 
solutions of these substances be prepared, the plants die in 
them. Sir Humphrey Davy attributed the non-absorption 
of the thick solution and the death of the plant to the thick 
matter blocking up the pores of the vegetable tissue.” 
GOSSIP. 
The Crystal Palace Company is formed; the applica¬ 
tions for shares were nearly double the number that , 
could be supplied; and shares are at a premium. The 
following particulars are from the Company’s pros- , 
pectus:— 
“ A site close to London, but out of the reach of its smoke 
and brick walls—beautiful, picturesque, and open—has been 
secured on the Brighton Railway. The Palace once built upon 
it, will have a railway station ■within the building itself, com¬ 
municating by an exclusive line of rail with the London 
Bridge and Bricklayers’ Arms Stations, which are the most 
readily accessible to the densest portion of the London 
population, and from which the Crystal Palace Station will 
be reached by special trains in ten minutes. A line is also 
in contemplation which will connect the Crystal Palace with 
the Waterloo and Yauxhall Stations. One small payment 
-will cover both the admission and the railway conveyance to 
and from the Crystal Palace. Thus, in a few minutes, with¬ 
out stoppage, the visitors will find themselves once more 
within the precincts of their old and favourite resort. 
“ The Institution itself it is proposed to make worthy of 
the country and of the views with which the Crystal Palace 
was originally raised. Refined recreation, calculated to ! 
elevate the intellect, to instruct the mind, and to improve 
the heart, will welcome the millions who have now no other 
incentives to pleasure but such as the gin-palace, the danc¬ 
ing saloon, and the alehouse afford them. The triumphs 
of industry and art, and the natural beauty of flowers and 
plants from every climate, will meet together at the Crystal 
