The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1878-07-25
Garden Rubbish.

In many gardens the greater portion
of the vegetable refuse, which might
otherwise be utilized as manure, is lit
orally sent to the "rubbish heap"
from which it does not return to the
garden again, but is as often rs otherwise
carried away and shot in some Out-Of-
the way corner, where it is of no use
whatever. Considering that gardens
are usually stinted in the supply of
manure. is a matter of surprise that the
superintendent refuse of the green and
growing crops, which represent those
manurial elements which garden crops
most need, should be entirely wasted.
But so it is. In large gardens, where
an extravaganza amount of labor was
wasted in trimming and dressing the
vegetable quarters, where they were
no eyesOre whatever, we have known
every cabbage-blade, every bit of pea
haulm, and every morsel of weed
cleared off and away to the rubbish
heap, till in the course Of six or seven
years the heap filled up the hollow al.
lotted to il, and then the accumulation
of years was carried away, to fill up in
CAPABILITIES in the parks; while all the
time the garden was buying the manure
it needed in the shape of stable and
COW manure from The farm and occa-
sionally artiiicials - from other
sources. This, of coarse. was all waste
and bad management, and cannot by
any means be called high-class garden
ing. Every closely-cropped garden
produces as much excellent manure as
would go far to make up the loss taken
out in the way of crops; for it is only Il
little of the produce that is really used
in the shape Of vegetables. Another
thing also is that most kitchen-gardens
are too large, and are not so profitably
cropped as they might be. Though most
French cooks will consume in some
way or other all the produce of large
garden, if they can run. upon it when
they like, unless they have to provide
the vegetables at their, own expense;
and then, as we happento know from
experience both ways, they use less
than half the quantity Of stuff. In a
garden which is being regularly
cropped there is no occasion whatever
for removing much of the green vege-
table refuse at all. 1t is among the
best of manures, and it is only neces-
sary to remove it to such ground as
happens to be vacant, and trench or
dig it in: Before a newly planted crop
can lay hold it will be partially decom-
posed and ready to afford plant-food;
and, at any rate, it cannot be lost and
will be there for another year. John
stone, in his Elements of Agricultur-
al Chemistry and Geology" says of
vegetable substances that they rot more
readily in green state. and are, there
fore. quicker in their action. The rea-
son of this, he says, is ''that the sap or
juice of the green plant begins very
soon to ferment in the interior of the
stem and leaves, and speedily commu-
nicates the same condition to the moist
fiber of the plant itself;' and, again,
1.-THE rapid decay of green vegetable
matter takes place when it is buried in
soil. Hence, the cleanings and scour-
ings of bitches and hedge-sides form a
compost of mixed earth and fresh vege-
table matter, which soon becomes ca
pable Of enriching the ground. When
green crop is plowed into field, the
whole of it's surface is. converted into
such compost. The vegetable mat
ter in short time decays into
light black mold and .enriches
in a remarkable degree and fertilizes
the soil. ,i'Furpip7leaves and
potato tops decay more readily and
more perfectly. and are more enriching
when buried in q green state. 1t is i
prudent economy, therefore, where cir
cumstances admit of it, to burysthe pO-
tatO-tops on the spot from which the
potatoes are raised /, Since the time of
the Romans it has been the custom to
bury the cuttings of the vine-stocks at
the roots of the vines themselves; and
many vineyards flourish for success.
sion of years without any other manur-
ing. In the Weald of Kent the prun-
ings of the hop-vine, chopped and dug
in, or made into a compost and applied
to the roots of the hop, give q larger
crop, and with half the manure, than
when they are burned and thrown away
as is usually DONE" All this has. q very
7, direct bearing upon garden. cropping,
for in a garden the process Of digging
| i'm green vegetable matter can be car
ried out at mostly all seasons. For ex-
ample, late pea crops need not be
wheeled off to the .runbish-heap, even
/, though. it gives the ground an untidy
aspect for little while, but be dug OF
trenched in where it lies; and the same
applies to potato-tops, old cabbage
leaves and stumps, spinach, and any
thing that is likely to decay, whether
crops or weeds. One objection to using
green vegetable matter is that it is sup.
posed to be necessary to trench it.
When put off there is not time fer that.
But we can state, from experience, that
most garden refuse may only be dug in,
II N mnr,d enada In ,asnd md tho nsr1.l, nd