34 VEGETABLE GARDENING 



unless a considerable amount of loam, peat, or other 

 material is added to absorb the ammonia, which is always 

 liberated when nitrogenous and alkaline substances are 

 thus mixed. It is a good plan to mix ground bone, tankage, 

 and other slow-acting fertilizers with heating stable manure, 

 as by so doing the plant food they contain is made more avail- 

 able and the stable manure is greatly improved in quality. 



The Manure Pile. If early garden crops are to be 

 grown, it is necessary to have fine, well-rotted manure, 

 and this makes the manure pile necessary. It should be 

 placed so that as little waste as possible will occur from 

 leaching by rains. When a manure pile is to remain in 

 one place for a considerable time it should be made upon 

 a bed of leaves, peat, loam, rotted sods or other absorbent, 

 about one foot in thickness, which will catch and retain 

 any fertilizing material that may leach through the pile. 



Fermentation may be controlled by keeping the pile 

 compact and moist. If practicable, the pile should be 

 made where it will be protected from the sun and from 

 drying winds. The height of the pile should depend 

 somewhat on the kind of manure and the season of the 

 year when it is made. Manures that heat readily should 

 be piled about six feet deep. When the pile is quite warm 

 the manure should be turned over. This operation should 

 be performed very thoroughly as often as the pile gets hot. 

 All the lumps should be broken up and the whole pile 

 turned to the bottom of the bed on which it is placed. 

 The absorbents of the bed should be mixed evenly through- 

 out the pile and the cold manure from the outside put 

 on the inside of the pile so that it may decompose the more 

 evenly. 



If the pile appears dry on the inside, apply water, or, 

 what is better, the urine from the stable should be added 



