62 HOW TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



It will absorb and retain a large amount of liquid manure. It 

 makes excellent bedding for all animals except sbeep, as it gets 

 into their wool. When used in the piggery it makes a most 

 valuable top dressing for grass or grain. In the preparation of 

 the soil for root-crops, tan bark prepared in this way will supply 

 an abundance of those salts essential to their rapid and luxuriant 

 growth. .The same remarks apply to saw dust, turning shav- 

 ings, planing mill shavings, etc. They should never be put into 

 the stable wet. 



The carcases of dead animals should never be left for the 

 crows to pick. Cover the carcass six inches deep with muck, 

 and allow it to decompose, which will take six months or a 

 year. It may be placed within sight of the house, as, if covered 

 thoroughly, the muck will absorb all the ammonia and other 

 gases. Watch it a little at first, to see that dogs and crows do 

 not uncover it. After having lain through a summer, fork over 

 the mass, and throw out the bones, add a half bushel of plaster 

 and another load of earth, and leave it another month or two ; ic 

 is then fit for use and worth more than an equal bulk of barnyard 

 manure. It should be spread very thin and well harrowed in. 



Other green crops, besides clover, are turned in for manure, 

 although we consider clover the best when it is to be turned in 

 on the land where it is grown. Indian corn and buckwheat 

 come next in value for this purpose. When fields are at a 

 distance from the barnyard, this is often a most economical 

 method of manuring. Four things must be observed in raising 

 green manures. Those plants must be used whose seed is 

 cheap; which are sure to succeed and grow very fast, which are 

 deep rooted, and contain no substances which will be injurious 

 to the succeeding crop. Usually five or six bushels to the acre 

 of lime, plaster, or ashes, should be sown with the seed, or just 

 before the crop makes its appearance on the surface. Vetch and 



