GARDEN RUBBISH.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1033, 12 August 1879, Page 2 (Supplement)

GARDEN RUBBISH.

(From, the Leader.) Many substances that pass under the general term rubbish, and are frequently "looked upon as nuisances, are in reality of gr at value in gardens, and worthy of much care and good treatment. Every garden has its rubbish heap where its waste products are thrown, more with a view to getting tliem out of the way in the easiest manner rather than as something which, by proper management, may become an excellent fertiliser for any and all crops, whether of culinary vegetables, flowering plants, pot plants, or fruit trees and bushes. Animal manures are valuable for most garden crops, still there are some for which they are either unnecessary orinjurious, but the soil formed by the decomposition of vegetable substances may safely be applied to every kind of. plant, tree, or herb, while in many cases it is indispensable, and in others produces a better result than any kind of animal manure. To many kinds of trees, pines, and others, animal manure may be positively injurious, but no amount of vegetable soil will do them harm ; in fact, it is the kind of manure with which nature provides them in the form of mould produced by the decomposition of their own lea,ves ; the surface soil of forests consisting entirely of that substance, of a depth'proportionate to the size of the trees and the amount of foliage they annually shed, which, as it gradually decomposes and is resolved into its elements in a soluble form is again appropriated by the roots, carried into circulation in the tree, helping to build up its substance and to form fresh foliage, the processes of decay and re-appi opriation being continually repeated. It is well known that the fertility of the best ground may be maintained and even increased by returning- all vegetable substances which have grown upon it; and when it is considered what a large proportion of edible vegetables and even flowering plants is left to go to the rubbish heap, it may be easily calculated what a small quantity of extraneous manurial substances _ is actually necessary in maintaining the fertility of a garden when all the refuse is made the most of. Although the soil of gardens is generally manured much more heavily than that of farms, it would almost seem as though the latter ought to receive the largest amount, seeing that the crops taken off farm lands are generally in the form of ripe seeds, which exhaust the soil more than crops where the foliage only, as in cabbages, is abstracted. For some kitchen garden crops vegetable soil is decidedly preferable to animal manure, as the latter, in the case of peas, beans, potatoes, and some others, causes too large a production of "foliage, while vegetable soil, tends to the production of the fruit-producing portion. Also, in the ease of carrots ;and similar; root .crops vegetable soil is preferable for various reasons. Similar effects are produced on flowering plants, as for instance, pelargoniums in beds,

which, if treated with animal manure, run to leaf instead of flower, Fruit trees and bushes form no exception, for though in this climate they can consume with profit an enormous amount of any kind of manure, yet, as in the case of forest trees, that which is the most natural to them cannot be otherwise than the bast; but there is much culpable carelessness , with regard to -their fallen leaves, which, instead of being saved and returned to the soil, are frequently allowed to'be blown away and lost. Then, in regard to pot plants, there arc hardly any for which vegetable soil is unsuitable, and a heap of it is real necessity to the skilled cultivator. The formation of garden rubbish heaps should be carried on as systematically as any other operation ; soft rapidly decomposing substances, such as cabbage leaves, pea and bean haulm, potato shaws, the dead tops of herbaceous flowering plants, sweepings of lawns, tree leaves, and- es2)ecially weeds, should be placed in a separate heap ; woody substances, primings of fruit and other trees aud buslxes, decayed pea-stick, cabbage, castocks, and the like in another ; a third may consist of stuny matter from whijh any soil may be afterwards riddled out; while old potting soil may bo. either mixed with the vegetable refuse if that is to be used for digging into the soil, or it may be mixed with stable dung in order to its re-fertilisa-tion. The vegetable heap should be commenced in spring with a base of a size proportionate to that of the garden, all rubbish that is brought being spread regularly over the surface either at once or at regular periods, and, to facilitate decomposition, water should be applied during dry weather, using manure water if considered advantageous. The heap of woody matter should be also made r.s compact as possible, then at a convenient season covered with weeds and a layer of clayey soii and converted into charcoal, a .substance of great value for pot plants, vegetables, and fruit trees ; the dust and ashes that remain, being also valuable, should be stored away while dry for topdressing seed beds and for dusting over young plants to keep off slugs. When the autumn months come round, and the time draws near that manure is wanted for the soil, then the rubbish heap should be turned and well mixed so as to aid decomposition, throwing out anything for the base of a fresh heap that is not sufficiently decayed to be conveniently dug into tho ground, the re mainder will be found a useful and valuable auxiliary to the heap of stable dung of such an extent as will be likely to cause a pleasant surprise to those who fairly try to make the most of garden rubbish.