THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN, July 5, 1859. 
195 
queut ablutions ; at least not as to its physical needs. I 
am assured that the origin of so many watery applications 
is to found in the dread that had so long existed as to the 
eruptions of the red spider. Hut we have “ a change of 
cases,” as Burns said; we fear not the spider now-a-days. 
I have grown excellent crops of Peaches and Nectarines 
for years, and have not used a garden-engine to them for 
at the least twelve years. So it is evident that this prac¬ 
tice is not indispensable. In-doors I use the syringe every 
afternoon ; but applying water when the atmosphere is up 
to 80°, and out-doors at 50°, is very different. We all 
know that moisture is a heat robber; then why apply it 
pertinaciously under circumstances when wo desire to 
retain every degree of heat ? 
There is nothing like a body of fermenting material 
inside the Peach-house. I have it from the swelling of I 
the bud until the last or ripening swelling takes place. 
We who are getting into “the sear and yellow leaf,” 
remember what a fuss the Dutch mode of gardening 
made some twenty-five years since, or more. The same 
having for an able exponent Mr. Niemans, then, I think, 
gardener to Mr. Labouchcre. Peaches, wo were told, i 
were taken from the walls, planted in Dutch pits, fer- i 
menting material applied, and lots of fruit directly. 
This was, indeed, a royal way to geometry. 
As to insects, I am persuaded that the great, or prin¬ 
cipal, cause is drought at the roots—a drought unsus¬ 
pected because not investigated. Indeed, this is the first 
cause, in most plants, of the red spider beyond doubt. 
This winter I did not even dress the wood of the trees 
with the sulphur mixture—the first time for years that I 
have omitted it—and I have not a spider, nor signs of 
any: indeed, the foliage is too dark for spider. As to 
drought, I am never content unless I probe the soil once 
a-week to tho depth of several inches, first in one portion 
and then in another. This is the way to reveal secrets. 
If the border of soil is properly constituted, it is astonish¬ 
ing what a quantity of water healthy trees laden with 
fruit require. The house to which I have alluded, which 
is just thirty feet in length, and the border within only 
five feet, has received about forty or fifty gallons of weak 
guano water ever since the fruits were as large as Goose¬ 
berries. E. Ebbington. 
THE SCIENCE OF GARDENING. 
(Continued from page 178.) 
We may now proceed to consider manures—a class of bodies of 
the first importance to the cultivator of the soil, yet of the 
economy of which lie is generally most ignorant, inasmuch as 
that their judicious employment requires considerable chemical 
acquirements. Every substance increasing the fertility of a soil, 
when incorporated with it, is a manure; hence the earths, when 
applied to regulate its retentive powers, are actually manures. 
Manures are derived from animals, vegetables, and minerals ; 
they directly assist the growth of plants ; firstly , by entering into 
their composition ; secondly , by absorbing and retaining moisturo 
from the atmosphere; thirdly , by absorbing the. gases of the 
atmosphere; and, fourthly, by stimulating tho vascular system 
of the plants. 
Manures approximately assist vegetation : firstly, by killing 
predatory vermin and weeds ; secondly, by promoting the decom¬ 
position of stubborn organic remains in the soil: thirdly , by 
protecting plants from violent changes of temperature. 
All these properties seldom, if ever, occur in ono species of 
manure, but each is usually particularised by possessing one or 
more in a superior degree. That is tho most generally applicable 
manure which is composed of matters essential to the growth of 
plants ; the chief of these are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen; 
therefore, all animal and vegetable substances aro excellent 
manures. It would evidently be of great benefit, if every plant 
could be manured with the decaying parts of its own species. 
The ancients made this a particular object. We read that those 
Vines were the most fruitful, winch were manured with their own 
leaves and primings, and the skins of expressed Grapes.* This 
* Crescentius Agric., sect, 2, c. 6. 
rule might be so far followed, as that the stems of Potatoes, 
Peas, &c., could bo dug respectively into the compartments 
where those crops are intended to be grown in tho following year. 
Faemyaed Manure.—M. Boussingault made many experi¬ 
ments upon farmyard manure ; and when formed by the excre¬ 
tions of thirty horses, thirty oxen, and from ten to twenty pigs, 
on the average of three years, it contained 20.7 per cent, of dry 
matters, and 79.3 per cent, of water. 
When aualised more completely after being dried at a tem¬ 
perature of 238°, the same manure was found to contain on the 
average,— 
Carbon. . 35.8 
Hydrogen ........ 4.2 
Oxygen ........ 25.8 
Azote ......... 2.0 
Salts and earths ...... 32.2 
100.0 
When moist, its composition is represented by: — 
Carbon ........ 7.41 
Hydrogen ........ 0.87 
Oxygen ..5.34 
Azote ......... 0.41 
Salts and earths.6.67 
Water.79.30 
100.0 
Exceetions oe the Hoese. — A moderate-sized farm horse 
was fed upon hay and Oats. The urine and the excrements 
together contained 76.2 per cent, of moisturo. In twenty-four 
hours the excretions weighed—moist, 34.2 lbs.; dry, 8.1 lbs. 
Their composition was found to be :— 
In the dry state. 
Moist ditto. 
Carbon 
. 38.6 
9.19 
Hydrogen 
. . . 5.0 
1.20 
Oxygen . 
. . 36.4 
8.66 
Azote . . • 
. . 2.7 
4.13 
Salts and earths 
. 17.3 
4.13 
Water . 
• • • )J ••• 
76.17 
100.0 
100.0 
Exceetions oe the Cow. —A cow was fed upon hay and 
raw Potatoes. The urine and excrements together contained 
86.4 of moisture. Tho weight of the excretions in twenty-four 
hours was—moist, 80.5 lbs.; dsy, 10.9 lbs. 
Their composition by analysis was :— 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Carbon 
. 39.8 
5.39 
Hydrogen 
. . 4.7 
0.64 
Oxygen . 
, . 35.5 
4.81 
Azote .... 
. . 2.6 
0.36 
Salts and earths 
. 17.4 
2.36 
Water .... 
* • 53 * 
.. 86.44 
100.0 
100.0 
Exceetions oe the Pig. —The pigs, upon which the observa¬ 
tions were made, were from six to eight months old. They were 
fed upon steamed Potatoes. The urine and the excrements lost 
by drying 82 per cent, of moisture. The average of the excretions 
yielded by one pig in twenty-four hours was—moist, 9.1 lbs.; 
dry, 1.6 lbs. Composition :— 
Dry. 
Moist. 
Carbon 
. 38.7 
6.97 
Hydrogen 
. . • . 4.8 
0.86 
Oxygen . 
. 32.5 
5.85 
Azote . 
. . 3.4 
0.61 
Salts and earths 
. 20.6 
3.71 
Water . 
• • • • 5J 
... 82.00 
100.0 
100.0 
The litter that is 
generally employed is 
wheat-straw. T 
straw, in the condition in which it is used, 
contains twenty- 
per cent, of moisture. 
Its composition is :— 
Dried. 
Uudricil. 
Carbon 
. 48.4 
35.8 
Hydrogen 
. . 5.3 
3.9 
Oxygen . 
. 38.9 
28.8 
Azote 
. . . . 0.4 
00.3 
Salts and earths 
. 7.0 
5.2 
Water . . 
• • • • a 
26.0 
100.0 
... 100.0 
