368 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, Maech 16, 1858. 
I can thoroughly recommend this hot-diluted ammoniacal 
liquor as an excellent application for trees, either in or out of 
j leaf, which are subject to blight and vermin; and had I 
j a vinery attacked with the mildew I would batter it with the 
■ mixture, and it occurs to me it might possibly conquer it. 
Its application is hard work, and it plays vengeance with the 
packing of the syringe. Possibly this might require repack¬ 
ing after each operation. And as to whether the practice could 
be adopted on a large scale, that depends entirely on the 
operator’s will and perseverance. 
Analogous to the application of ammonia to the leaves of trees, 
there is a practice in China. It is pointed out as follows by the 
Times' “ special correspondent,” writing from Hong Ivong, on 
the subject of Chinese agriculture:—“ Grass grows rank only 
upon graves. One or two buffaloes, two or three goats, a 
breeding sow, ugly long-legged fowls (called Cochin-Chinas 
in England), and a flock of ducks and geese, are the live stock 
of a Chinese farm, which maintains a hundred labourers. 
Stable-yard manure is scant. Human ordure is collected with 
care in numerous open earthenware pans, where passers-by 
can contribute their offerings to these shrines of ‘ bestiality,’ 
both offending the senses and poisoning the air. In the 
suburbs, each house has its cesspool. In the country, each 
cottage its inviting latrine,” which, like a famous count’s 
“ Narbonnese honey,” bring in these Chinese “ a great deal of 
money;” “for at Ningpo (?) two immense pans lie opposite 
to the entrance door of the first native merchant of that city, 
awaiting the payment of 2000 dollars, which is the price of 
their removal. To an Englishman, who visits their country, 
these manure traps constitute his first and last impressions 
of never-ceasing horror. Boats convey this produce through 
the inner waters, and anchor close to you at night; only to 
remove for a consideration. One Englishman, in disgust, 
paid 30 dollars to a fellow to move on, at the same time fisti¬ 
cuffing the extortioner into” Ms ambrosial “liquid cargo.” 
This manurial treasure is, according to a Chinaman’s way of 
thinking, too precious to be worked into the ground: “ it is 
sprinkled over the leaves of the plant: burnt haulm and straw 
of the cotton plant only are delved into the soil. The 
Chinese transplant every root of Rice by hand, and each root 
gets its little blessing of the above liquid.” These things are 
managed differently in China to what they are here; but 
“ give an English farmer,” or gardener, “ some 1000 acres of 
vegetable loam of an unexplored depth, waterways, reticula¬ 
tion of ditto for flooding purposes, labour at 4 d. per day, 
abundance of sunshine, periodical rains, large markets, cheap 
communication by tidal creeks, and what corn and pot-herbs 
he would produce—to say nothing of tea, sugar, cotton, silk¬ 
worms, silk, and Mulberry leaves—our friend Giles would 
have to scratch his head a little before he could start on a 
race to overtake these Chinamen, who are 4000 years of 
practice a-bead of him.” 
Now, I live in one of the smallest of corporate towns 
imaginable, and have not been fined by the sanitary com¬ 
missioners on account of bad smells ; so for that very reason, 
and many others which I could mention, I do not choose to 
be passively written down as being 4000 posterior to any 
Chinaman whatever; and I will give my reason why, in 
accordance with the spirit of this present writing; first, merely 
excusing myself by quoting a paragraph from a leading article 
in the Times of the 8th ult.:—“ We trust that our readers 
will not charge us with indelicacy in speaking publicly of such 
matters as these; they should consider that men’s lives are at 
stake.” Let me add, women and children’s also. 
My system of application relating to house sewage is not 
a feature of yesterday, it has been in operation here nearly 
eleven years. We have two sewage tanks, the larger of 
! which is formed under a gravel walk in the garden contiguous 
| to the dwelling-house, and a drain conveys the contents of the 
j watercloset into it. Once a year I decide upon a day to 
empty this tank. Then, in order to do so, the gravel is 
shovelled off, and the trap, or block of wood two feet square, 
raised by the piece of chain attached to it. Since the previous 
emptying I have accumulated, probably, from three to four 
bushels of burnt wood-ashes, the produce of the oven. If 
not so much, I send for two pecks of gypsum from the 
druggists, as a compensation; these are tossed in at the tank’s 
mouth into the sewage, and well stirred about, in order to fix 
the ammonia, to serve as a quietus to the smell. Then, with 
an old iron saucepan, attached by its handle to a pole ten 
feet long, the sewage is laded into water-cans, borne away 
with yokes, and distributed over the portion of ground that 
is about to be dug or trenched, and cropped with the 
Cabbage tribe; or applied to the beds of Asparagus, 
Rhubarb, Sea-kale; to the roots of the Black Currant, Rasp¬ 
berries, Apple trees, or other permanent plants which may 
require invigorating. The opening of the tank is large enough 
to allow of a man’s descent, by means of a short ladder, to the 
bottom, to gather up the sediment with an iron bowl into 
buckets. As soon as the tank is emptied, the square oak trap 
is dropped into its frame, the gravel returned and rolled, the 
ground dug and planted immediately, over which the mixture 
was poured; thin layers of soil are spread upon the As¬ 
paragus bed, &c., and not even the most sensitive nose becomes 
aware of the fact, unless that nose chooses to insinuate itself 
wilfully into the immediate presence of the operation. 
The other and smaller tank is situated in a back yard, 
having a square wooden trap-door, minus the gravel over it; 
it has a drain leading to it from the scullery sink, conveying 
the liand-wasliings, and other manurial properties constantly 
escaping from that quarter. This goes now to the “ muck 
pie ” in the mixen, and in the summer time it is taken to the 
garden to supply the coarse topers there. 
I never exceed two cart-loads of stable manure per annum , 
and this I procure to mix with the autumnal “pie;” for the 
chief part of my cultivation my staple is liquid manure, col¬ 
lected and used in the manner already stated, and it is as¬ 
tonishing the quantity and quality of vegetables and fruit this 
rather small garden is made to produce as a result. 
I hear the Duke of Marlborough is about to cause the lake j 
in Blenheim Park to be cleared out. How the shades of j 
“ Capability Brown ” will rejoice at it! and what a horrible 
miasma it will create in the doing hereabouts! But how 
good taste will become reconciled to a gas works that is 
being erected, and surrounded by clumsy posts and rails, 
ill concealed by a few trees, and in close proximity to the end 
of the left wing of the palace—foully striking the eye as one 
enters the park from the triumphal arch from Woodstock—it 
is difficile dicere. If I were the proprietor of that splendid 
domain, the eyesore should be made to depart a great deal 
quicker than it has been placed there. The ghost of Vanburgh 
may be expected to be seen nightly, heavily weeping over this , 
modern blur, in close alliance with his chief work, Blenheim, i 
—Ur wards and Onwards. 
- 
_ 
THE ARTICHOKE GOURD. 
This is the proper name of the best kind of Vegetable 
Marrow, in the South of Erance. I said, at page 199, that 
“ the Horticultural Society had it last summer; but I have 
not heard that they succeeded in tracing out its book name; 
therefore, the kind which is in the hands of the Society may 
not be exactly the one I spoke of, as being the best of all 
Vegetable Marrows.” Now, I am in a position to clear up 
tills point, and to point out to all, whom it may concern, how 
it may very easily be proved by thousands. 
The Custard Vegetable Marrow, of the Horticultural So¬ 
ciety, is not the Artichaut d'Espagne, nor the kind which I i 
meant. We had them both at the last meeting of the Horti¬ 
cultural Society, on the 2nd inst., and I left them out of my 
report purposely, to put the saddle on the right horse. The j 
Artichoke Gourd is four times handsomer, and not nearly so j 
large as the Gustard Vegetable Marrow. “ It is very pretty - 
looking at table,” as Dr. Beck says ; that is, it makes a good- j 
looking dish, whole y or in quarters. I can cook as well as 
most of them, and I can tell the'best-looking dishes, and the j 
best way of laying the cloth and “placing” a dinner-table, I 
as well as any man in Mr. Gunter’s estabhshment, and I have 
no hesitation in seconding the one Doctor against the other. 
Dr. Bindley knows the “Marrows,” botanically better than 
Dr. Beck ; but Dr. Beck is a better authority for them me¬ 
dicinally, and when they are well cooked, and of the kinds 
best to cook ; but as I have not tasted the Custard Vegetable 
Marrow, I camiot say, from my own experience, which of the 
two is really the better. I go by what I consider the best 
authority ; but supposing that they are both best—and I am 
sure the Custard Marrow must really be a good thing—there 
