112 PLAIN AND PLEASANT TALK 



yields it to the plants. Let a barrel be set near the house 

 filled with powdered charcoal. Empty into it all the cham 

 ber-ley. The ammonia will be taken up by the charcoal, and 

 the barrel will be without any offensive smell. But as soon 

 as the charcoal is saturated, it will begin to give out the 

 peculiar odor of urine. Let the charcoal then be mixed 

 with about five times its bulk of fresh earth and well worked 

 together, and it will afford a very powerful manure for vege 

 tables and flowers. In Europe, where manure is precious, 

 it is estimated that the excrementitious matter, slops, suds, 

 scraps, etc., of a family, will supply one acre, for each mem 

 ber, with manure.* There are few families whose offal 

 would not afford abundant material for enriching the gar 

 den, and with substances peculiarly fitted for flowers, fruits, 

 and esculent roots. 



FALL WORK IN THE GARDEN. 



PLANTING seeds may be performed for very early spring 

 use. Lettuce, spinage, and radishes, may be sown in a shel 

 tered spot, and they will come forward ten days or a fortnight 

 earlier than those which shall have been sown in spring. 



Clearing up the garden should be thoroughly performed. 

 Let pea-brush be removed, bean poles and flower stakes be 

 collected and put under shelter. Collect all refuse vines, 

 haulm, stems and stalks and wheel them to a corner to rot, 

 or to be ready for use in covering flower-beds. Let the 

 alleys be hoed out for the last time, and it will be as good 

 as one hoeing in the spring, when they will probably be too 

 wet to hoe. Gravel may now be laid in the walks ; if ashes 

 are to be spread, it may be done in autumn, and save time in 

 the spring. 



* See note, p. 98, Colman s Tour, 2d part, where is given an estimate 

 by a distinguished agricultural chemist, Mr. Hay wood. 



