THE GARDENING WORLD. 
January 23, 1904. 
*8 
sheep droppings greatly depends upon what the sheep have 
been fed, and this would also apply to the. manure of various 
other animals, and the method of keeping it or preparing it- 
before it is put on the land. Hitherto a. great deal of the 
most valuable ‘Constituents of many manures have'been allowed 
to go to ,waste before it was put on the land, or in the composts 
which gardeners prepare. 
On page 62 we have some short paragraphs on the use of 
sea,weeds a.s manure. The chemical compositions- of those are 
given .in tabular form, and one can see at a glance the relat-i\ o 
proportion of plant food which such a manure contains. On 
the sea coasts, particularly of Scotland and Ireland, the farmers 
avail themselves: of seaweed to a considerable extent for the 
manuring of their land. We may also, say that shell-sand is 
also largely employed by farmers living within reasonable 
distance°of the seashore. Of course, it. is necessary to under¬ 
stand the nature of the soil and where seaweed woi Id be of 
advantage to it. The same applies to shell-sand, which may 
be collected separately, but is. often incorporated with the sea¬ 
weed where both happen to be washed on the sea, beach 
together. 
Light lands, would be injured by frequent, applications ot 
seaweed -mixed with shell-sand, .so. that even in the simplest 
fonns- of husbandry and gardening it is necessary to under¬ 
stand where and when it may beneficially he. applied. The. 
shell-sand is'largely composed of carbonate of lime, so- that it 
acts both chemically and mechanically, and in either case 
should not. be applied in any great quantity to light and sandy 
or gravelly soils. On, peat and clay, however, it is, of the 
greatest value to the. crops. 
Other kinds of green manures are allied to seaweeds in their 
properties and the manurial constituents which they give back 
to the land, but there is not that danger of them which would 
apply to> sandy seaweed. In farming the green manures that 
would be used would be Turnip®, Mustard, and Rape, which are 
sown upon the land, and afterwards fed off with sheep on the 
land, or simply ploughed in where they grow, according to 
circumstances. 
It is seldom that gardeners resort to green manuring in 
gardens, although there are some oases in which it might be 
of advantage, particularly in light soils and where there isi 
a difficulty in obtaining sufficient farmyard manure for use in 
the garden. The value of any leguminous crop in making the 
land richer in soil nitrogen is well known, and gardeners might 
well avail themselves of the fact by sowing Peas, Beans., Scarlet 
Runners, and other related crops, where they could be fol¬ 
lowed by other crops- which are highly benefited by applications 
of nitrogen. 
Artificial manures are also dealt with in a very elaborate 
way, showing how certain of -them are prepared and their 
composition, all of which must be of the greatest value to 
gardeners or any others -engaged in the cultivation of the soil. 
The various forms in which bones- may be used, the relative use 
they are. in the soil and their commercial values are here dis¬ 
cussed. When bones are- finely ground down, it is then 
possible to adulterate them, in. which case the author advises 
what .should be done. 
The manurial value of fermented bones-, crushed hoofsi, 
bone shavings, ivory dust, boiled and -steamed bone®, bone- 
black, bone-ash, dissolved bo-nes and their preparation are also 
here fully discussed. The author -even, deals with leather meal. 
The leather of old boots is often, plentiful enough in London 
gardens, but in that form it takes many years before it. can 
prove of any material service to plants, if, indeed, it can ever 
be termed useful in that form. The author here describes, 
however, a method by which old leather is ground down and 
turned to account as a. nitrogenous manure under the name of 
leather meal. 
Under the heading of phosp-hatic manures guanos are dealt- 
with, and those who have- not hitherto- studied the subject, will 
be astonished what a large number of guano® there are and 
the sources from which they a,re derived. In, moist cases the 
supplies have hitherto been obtained from, the deposits of the 
excrementit-ious matter of seafowl, where such happen® to be 
deposited on the -rocky sea.-co.asts of a. country with a dry 
climate. The less washing to which it has been subjected the 
better, because then the guano will contain a sufficient pen 
cen-tage of nitrogen for it to. be. described as a nitrogenous as 
well as .a phosp-hatic guano. 
Here we lear n that on the Chincha Islands, on the coast of 
Peru, the. deposit® of guano- were originally 200 ft. in thickness. 
It is interesting to learn, howeve-r, that the Ichabo-e guano con¬ 
sists of the pure fresh excreta of marine birds. This brings 
the fact- ho-mei to. tho-sie gardeners- who are in a position toi 
secure the cleanings of the dove cot, pigeon house, o-r fowl- 
house. Such, when collected together and kept in a perfectly 
dry place till ready for use, is equally valuable as any of these 
guanos could be, but even here the gardener must be fully 
cognisant of what he i : si doing, otherwise his labours would 
very quickly be productive of harm by applying too much of a 
concentrated manure to a. certain area of s-o-il or to certain 
plants for which it might no-t be beneficial. Even: in this: case, 
however, the study of such a book as we are now discussing 
comes in: very valuable, and the study of it during the winter 
evenings would be a. liberal education, to- any gardener. 
Near Cape Town a guano, is obtained from, certain caves, and 
is believed to- be the excrement of an extinct fauna in bygone 
days. This deposit is rich in ammonia, and phosphates. When 
a portion of it is washed and the solid matter placed under a 
microscope-, the remains- of diatoms and the spicules of sponges 
give some idea of the food used by this extinct fauna. A large 
number of other guanos are mentioned, but we refer readers 
to the book itself, as a study of the same will be productive of 
much lasting benefit. 
In another chapter coprolites and mineral phosphates are 
discussed. These coprolites consist- of the- fossilised bones and 
excreta, of extinct mamma,® and are found in various, parts of 
the world, including Great Britain. The. name coprolite is 
said to have been given from the idea, that the phosphatic 
nodule® consisted of the excreta of the giant lizards of the 
ancient world. In this country coprolites are collected to be 
ground down into manure, in Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridge, and 
other eastern countries-, where they are found in fields at no 
great depths below the surface. 
Another question, here discussed is- Thomas- phos-phat-e 
powder, otherwise known as basic slag, and which has -been 
largely employed as a- phosphatic manure within recent- years 
in gardening as well as farming. It is the waste product of 
the smelting furnaces, and the turning of it- to account in this 
way is another of the many triumphs of science. 
Chrysanthemum Lady Cranston. 
(See Suijphment.) 
One of the most striking novelties of the past season 
amongst Clirysiant-hemums, was undoubtedly Lady Cranston, a 
very beautiful sport from the well-known Mrs-. Barkley. The 
latter is- a very popular exhibition variety, and the newcomer 
differs only in the matter of colour of the flower, and should 
prove equal, if not more .serviceable, to exhibitors. It must 
be classed amongst the light- colours, for the florets are white, 
-except those in the centre of the bloom, which have a delicate 
but distinct blush or pink tint, thus making a beautiful con¬ 
trast. 
As a rule, the darker colour in this class of plants is con¬ 
fined to- the outer flo-rets, and very often, betrays itself when the 
flowers are fading, and, of course, past their best for exhibition 
purposes. In this- instance the dark colour occupies the^ 
centre of the bloom at its best, consequently this variety will 
take its- place: on the- show-boards- as- something very distinct 
indeed. 
It first c-am-e before the public at the Chrysanthemum Show 
held at Edinburgh in November last, but, since then it has 
passed into- the- collection of Mr. W. .T. Godfrey, Exmouth, 
Devon, from whom we had the photograph from which our 
supplement was prepared. 
The camera, unfortunately, does not show so delicate colours 
