A Standard Compost
The research work, practical and scientific, into the making of a cheap and universal fertiliser seems at last to have reached a standard success. No garden need be short of
manure, manufactured on the spot. A notable advance, which had a popular success, was made at Rothamsted during the War. It was discovered, thanks in part to Lord Iveagh's co-operation, that straw and other vegetable refuse could be broken down into a material resembling (even in appear- ance) farmyard manure, by aid of a composite chemical now widely known as Adco. Probably this is still the best formula, but good results can be achieved by the use of calcium cyanamide. Almost all the manure that any garden requires can be produced by the digging of a shallow pit, into which is put all the vegetable refuse, even if it be as woody as rose- cuttings. When this is some five or six inches deep in stuff, two ounces of the chemical powder sprinkled over every square yard will reduce the whole ti an excellent fertiliser, The County Gentlemen's Association (Letchworth, Hens) has described and endorsed the process.
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