HUMUS

Evening Star, Issue 20132, 23 March 1929, Page 24

HUMUS

It is safe to say that most gardens are deficient in humus. Without it plants cannot' give the host results. Humus is decayed vegetable matter of anv kind, and its chief function m the soil is the holding of moisture, although it also contains a certain amount of plant food. It also helps_ to hold other plant foods from being washed out of the soil, and makes Hie soil more porous and more easily worked. In former times gardeners depended almost entirely on stable manure to supply the necessary humus, but now that stable manure is so difficult to procure some other method of supplying this necessary ingredient must, be devised. There is always a large quantity ol rubbish of various kinds from a garden, and this, instead of being burnt, as formerly, should be utilised. It may either be "dug into tho ground in ,a green state to rot there naturally) or it may be. stacked in some out-of-the-way corner to bo utilised after decomposition as required. Another method for supplying humus' to the soil is by means of green cropping. _ As soon as a plot becomes vacant it is dug over roughly and receives a dressing of _ superphosphate and bonedust; and is sown down with some quick-growing crop. Oats, field peas, rape, vetches, or any other thing which is quick growing may be used. As -soon as _ a good growth is attained the- whole is turned in, and after a lew weeks the sappy growth has rotted and the ground may be used. A word of warning about burying weeds, etc. Never bury perennial weeds like sorrel or clocks, as they do not rot, and if buried will cause no end of trouble later by growing again, and, being deep in the ground, will be very difficult to eradicate. Another thing worth bearing in mind _ when burying rubbish in the trenches is that sufficient time must be allowed for Hie. mass to rot and settle down before planting is done.' If sowing or planting is done before the rubbish has rotted and the ground has settled, Hie roots of the plants are later left hanging, with fatal results.