23 SEPTEMBER 1949, Page 18

In the Garden

How rarely do private gardeners practise the art of green manuring, though manure is hard to get and compost usually insufficient or insuffi- ciently rotted. Seed sown even as late as this will germinate quickly

(since our au has many of the qualities of spring) and it is not necessary to let mustard or lupins or clover or what not grow big. The sooner it is dug under the more quickly it decomposes into the required humus. I have seen farmers leave it to grow so late that it was but half buried by the plough and slow to break up. W. BEACJI-THOMAS.