oluble and active. It also
makes the manure in the heap more uniform in quality.

Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry tell me that they often ferment the manure
that they draw from the stables in the city, and make it so fine and
rich, that they get but one load of rotted manure from three loads as
drawn from the stables. For some crops, they use at least 20 loads of
this rotted manure per acre, and they estimate that each load of this
rotted manure costs at least $5.00.

H. E. Hooker places the cost of manure equally high, but seems willing
to use all he can get, and does not think we can profitably employ
artificial manures as a substitute.

In this I agree with him. But while I should not expect artificial
manures, when used alone, to prove as cheap or as valuable as
stable-manure at present prices, I think it may well be that a little
nitrate of soda, sulphate of ammonia, and superphosphate of lime, or
dissolved Peruvian guano, might be used as an _auxiliary_ manure to
great advantage.

Mr. H. E. Hooker, once sowed, at my suggestion, some sulphate of ammonia
and superphosphate on part of a block of nursery trees, and he could not
perceive that these manures did any good. Ellwanger & Barry also tried
them, and reported the same negative result. This was several years ago,
and I do not think any similar experiments have been made since.

"And yet," said the Deacon, "you used these self same manures on
farm-crops, and they greatly increased the growth."

"There are several reasons," said the Doctor, "why these manures may
have failed to produce any marked effect on the nursery trees. In the
first place, there was considerable prejudice against them, and the
nurserymen would hardly feel like relying on these manures alone. They
probably sowed them on land already well manured; and I think they sowed
them too late in the season. I should like to see them fairly tried."

So would I. It seems to me that nitrate of soda, and superphosphate, or
dissolved Peruvian guano, could be used with very great advantage and
profit by the nurserymen. Of course, it would hardly be safe to depend
upon them alone. They should be used either in connection with
stable-manure, or on land that had previously been frequently dressed
with stable-manure.

MANURE FOR FRUIT-GROWERS.

How to keep up the fertility of our apple-orchards, is becoming an
important question, and is attracting considerable attention.

There are two methods generally r