200 HOW TO LIVE IN THE COUNTRY 



bean or pea vines, is to burn them. The result is 

 only a few pounds of ashes and the loss of a large 

 amount of ammonia or nitrogen. Everything that 

 is intended as a fertilizer should be plowed under be- 

 fore it is dried up (that is burned up). Other- 

 wise we have lost our humus also. 



Now is the time to tell you more of what compost 

 is, how to make it and what to do with it. My first 

 object is to accept Nature's offer of annual vegeta- 

 tion and to put it in such a place as will be best fitted 

 gradually to transform it into soil. I wish as soon 

 as possible to make it available as food for my 

 plants and trees. Then I wish to add to this what- 

 ever other material I can find which will serve the 

 same purpose. When you have once begun this sys- 

 tem of soil making, you will be astounded to find 

 how much good stuff goes to waste for lack of being 

 collected and composted. Weeds, road dirt, muck, 

 leaf mold, the contents of road ditches, ashes, old 

 plaster, almost everything will be found to be of 

 value. The barnyard manure, of course, will be 

 added but in such a way as to check its decomposition. 

 House waste and slops are exceedingly valuable in the 

 same pile. 



A compost heap may be made anywhere about your 

 land, whether under cover or not. Put in layers the 

 barnyard manure, autumn leaves, wasting weeds, old 

 straw, and, if the material is very coarse, occasionally 

 add lime. Let your piles alone until fall, then 

 thoroughly comminute them, apply them, and plow 



