Jury 15) 15 Looe 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER, 
7 
‘The Tse. of Manures. 
j Ess ae 
EMR) i Soxikevitite) ” 
o-Perhapa site ia. no: ihe subject. in : 
rs the whole.human family is or ought 
to:tbe more deeply interested than in the 
reproductiveness of the soil; yet, if we may . 
judge: from. what we see and hear, very 
many  givecthemselves little concern. re-_ 
garding: at... “They seem to rely on. the 
promise— ‘Bread shall be given,’ &c., and. 
trouble noe moré about it. 
ismot-asit ought to be, for if the soil were 
to leave off yielding her increase we would 
soon cease to exist. No doubt we get a 
certain amount of our living from the sea 
and other waters, but I am of opinion that 
even this source, would fail. This, of 
course, is taking. an. extreme view of the 
case, but. none. the less’ important. » 
“Tt; has: ‘béen said that ‘He who: makes. 
two blades of grass grow where before only” 
one grew: Ag a benefactor to mankind,’ and: 
this'is a sentiment we-all cordially. endorse, 
provided he does not ‘rob: Peter to™ enrich.” 
Paul, and it-is evident there is a, vast - 
amount:of this robbery going on, If we 
take, for instance, our own colony, with her 
vast wheat and hay fields—the produce of | 
the former : ‘sent wherever a good: market ~ 
can Bo found, and. the latter mostly con- _ 
c “But what-is returned to |: 
S¢ This-is. 
some. ‘of the robbery; see. how. the ‘enrich- f 
Look at our, wealthy mer- +; 
_well cared for, and indeed seldom urider- 
goes any special preparation. Barrowed or 
‘swept out from the stable into the pit or — 
e Literally nothing. © 
ment. goes on. 
chants and other moneyed men who keep 
several horses and perhaps a cow or two. 
It is surprising the amount of feed that 
is consumed. on such places; and, of ceurse, 
if there is a garden on the place it gets all 
the manure produced. Is there any wonder 
that. the two blades of grass grow there, 
and grow. -luxuriantly too. We must leave 
the, man to his. own fate who, in,a few 
years, renders good soil unable to ‘produce 
anything but.weeds, although I think he 
should be made answerable for such con- 
duct. . Perhaps it-might be well for the 
powers that be to see that the land is fairly 
treated, but. this is perhaps getting too 
near political economy, and I must,, not 
tread on such dangerous ground. However, 
I fearlessly Raaeee that the land should 
have a fair share of the profit. 
:‘SOursubjectis the preparation ofmanure 
andthebest way ofapplyingit.. [have no in- 
tention of dealing with the various manures, 
and ‘their. ‘application: to different crops; 
any ong can acquaint, himself upon this, 
subject: by , consulting standard agricul- 
tural.and. horticultural works, but: it cat 
rather deal with one or two with which 
we are-¢onstantly coming in contact. 
* “Tn. phat: excellent.  TaOeR,  Thomsonis 
‘Gardeners™ Assistant;’the-author describes 
Tanures as ‘all Substances which added to 
the soil increase its” fertility. These may 
act ‘either directly, by. supplying food to 
plants; or tehcssly byt rendering the sub- 
4 
_Of course, this , 
will pexmit. :: 
Sore e A area 
ot 
stances’ signs contained in the soil ane 
able for the ‘nourishment. of plants.’ >. 'The ». 
: 9 gardeners principal: supply ofsmanure in. 
soe this: ‘country: is from: the stables; commonly 
_ caliéd horse ‘manure, and, take it-allin all, 
. . it is “perhaps the! best: we could ‘have ;: 
., for’ somte «crops «we * swould “be glad’ to’ pre | 
: sent’a mixture: of ‘horse ahd:cow : dung: \' 
bub: 
“Perltaps the ‘first question { that presents ' 
“ itself is how’ to. apply manuré to the soil 
so that’ the’ crops’ shall be" thost, benefited. 
It may seem strange to ‘ask sucli a “question” 
ati this time of day, seeing that we ‘are well 
acquainted” with the way it is applied at 
present, viz., dug or ploughed into the 
ground. There are tertain circumstances ~ 
which ‘almost compel us to do so, because * 
leaving it on the surface would look untidy. 
Tf we take a leaf out of the book of Nature 
we will find that she manures mostly upon 
the surface, and if we imitate her we shall 
not go very far wrong. I am supposing that 
wo give: the land only its fair share, and 
that the manure has not lost any of its 
virtue. - I know it is generally supposed . 
that- manure loses certain, constituents if 
: exposed. to the sun and drying winds, but I 
have my doubts on this point. 
I would be 
inclined to keep it ‘more onthe surface than 
we are in the habit of doing were it not for . 
the appearance, and the hatbor it gives to 
slugs. Amongst. fruit-trees we aways. Keep 
it on the surface. — 
“Seeing that we cannot very” evel apply 
it to our .crops in a green state we want — 
io know the, best. way of storing ; and pre- 
paring ib without: losing any of its proper- 
ties. I think you will all agree with me 
that manure is “generally anything but 
into a corner of the yard it is half ruined 
on the one hand by excessive fermentation, 
and on the other by the rain. We once 
had a pit where the bath-water and closets 
were discharged, and no doubt it was 
thought it would be a good thing 
for the manure; but sometimes we 
can haye too much of a good thing, and 
such was the case here.. We have taken 
the manure out of this pit, and it looked. 
more like thatch in a stackyard than any 
other thing; and trying to make liquid 
manure it would scarcely color the water. 
I would advise the gardener to get it into 
his own quarters, and with as little delay 
ai possible spread it on a piece of ground 
as imperyious to. water as circumstances 
A hole at the, lower end to 
catch .any drainings will be. found, useful, 
The principal thing. to guard- against is. ex: 
cessive. fermentation. , This. can,,be.done 
by. pouring ,a few: centrale of water over. the 
heap, and treading it well. If. by chance 
the -heap has got: dry the: ese way. is to. 
turn. it over; mixing it;well, ‘asin making 
a hot -bed,.- moistening. it well as: you pro- 
ceed. . Ifwell iattended, .good. manure 
Sabosrllil he made ‘in: from. ithree ‘ito . four 
months... I-eonsider it.in: a fit state. ‘for: use 
when-it canbe cut with:a-spade., ‘ We had 
lasts seagon: some’ teeth as: Sete and 
manure largely. 
at the end of our long dry summer it turn- -- 
:edout:in splendid condition. Some ad-.. 
vise covering their manure. heap with. soil, 
to prevent the ammonia escaping. Any 
~ benefit ceil from this, I think, is doubt- 
ful: If well managed, little more ammo- 
“nia would escape than would in a natural 
ov way. * 
: vauaule ‘manure is shamefully wasted in 
‘Tt must be conceded that a.deal of 
this colony. 
“There is plenty of land round Adelaide 
: whieh sadly wants nourishment. 
gardens, too, there is often a deal of waste, 
aia Ad leaves, prunings, weeds, &c. We. 
cannot keep the rake very well out of the. 
garden, but it is our duty to return what 
we took away, or an equivalent. Every- 
thing that will return into mould should ~ 
be carefully kept and classified. Leaves _ 
will take about two. years to rot, so that a 
fresh heap should be started each season. 
Tt is well to see that they are sufficiently 7 
moist to assist in decay. The prunings, if 
‘not too severely burned, make an excellent 
top-dressing for orange trees.. In burning 
the heap the flame should be kept as well 
under as possible, until the mass is well 
charred; water should then be poured on 
to extinguish the fire, and a valuable and 
fertilising heap will ‘be the result. Fowls’ 
ung is excellent manure. However, I 
think it is better to mix it with other man- 
ure than to use it alone; when making 
liquid manure we generally use some of it. 
Most of us know the value of guino 
and bonedust. The latter. should be 
largely. used on account of the great 
percentage © of posphates. they contain. 
I think the best way of ‘applying | it: 
is to sow broadcast, and dig in with’ the 
other manure. Farmers should use. this 
Guano, I think, should 
be applied to the crops when they have 
well’started, but-in any case all artificial 
manures must be used with discretion, or 
the’ end in view will ‘be defeated. - 
mOSeseeee~ 
POND.” 
Water Lilies will do quite well with 
3 feet of water over the crowns. Build 
up your burrs to 2 feet with a space in the 
centre to fill with good loam for the Water 
Lily, or of a suitable size for a large pot, 
in which the plant could be placed. 
Nymphza Marliacea albida (white), N. M. 
chromatella (yellow), and N. M. rosea (rosy 
pink) are all good and cheap. _Ellisiana 
ig among the best of the reds. Nothing: 
wculd ‘give so much satisfaction as Water 
Lilies. 
“There is now in the English market a 
very interesting ‘nelw ‘Tree Carnation of. 
American raising, the original stock of 
which was sold for 30,000 dollars, I have 
not seen.it, but description declares..it to 
be.a brilliant, rose pink, of enormous size, 
the plant: of astonishing vigor and. hardi- 
ness, while. the blossoms Brot on 2 erect, tall 
Eade 
About :: 
