The Garden Under Glass

FEEDING AND TOP-DRESSING 239 for potting, manure of a Chemical and an animal origin should be used ; and, furthermore, I strongly advocate putting a layer of manure between each layer of turf at the time of stacking, for few indeed are the plants to which manure in the soil comes amiss. Yet even in such a case the virtue of this has departed long before the plant has completed its growth, and poor indeed would be the policy which would condemn it to a clear-water diet when naturally thirsting for stronger liquor. Manures Used in Liquid Form There are few manures which cannot be used in liquid state. Cow, sheep, pig, horse, deer and fowl manure are frequently used in this way, and the treatment of them is identical. But beyond these soot, guano and all kinds of Chemical manures may be so employed. Soot is a fairly safe manure, and can be easily procured. This being so, it can be more extensively used. In the case of Chemicals there are two methods of using them in a liquid form. A certain amount, according to the strength, may be put loosely into a pail of hot water and left to stand over night. This is a very good method, as there is little fear of any of the soluble matter being left unused, for most of it would lose its solid, form under the influence of the combined warmth and wet. The other method is to put a quantity in a bag, put in also half a brick, tie the bag, and immerse it in a tub. This is a slower method, but it is often more convenient. It would be wearisome, even if it were useful, to give the quantities to be used of each of the proprietary manures, for the directions are usually sent with the manure, and may be relied on. Nor should the quantity be exceeded unless proof has been given by experiment that such quantity is not only harmless but beneficial.