f53 now TO MAKE THE FARM PAY. 



It should be ground very fine, the finer the better, as it 

 must be dissolved before it can aid the growth of plants. It is 

 used as a top dressing on pastures, grass, grain, and growing 

 crops. The nature of the soil, as Avith other fertilizers, deter- 

 mines its value as a fertilizer. A soil already full is not bene 

 fitted by more; an exhausted soil cannot be expected to be- 

 come fertile by its application alone, but it will greatly aid 

 barnyard manure; cold, wet soils must be underdrained before 

 it will benefit them. But farms either sandy, gravelly, or 

 loamy, if also well dunged, are greatly benefitted by plastering. 

 Manuring a poor soil with nothing but lime or plaster is simply 

 folly. Using plaster with manures is wisdom. Do these fer- 

 tilizers exhaust the soil? * Such is a very common opinion. We 

 reply, nothing put into a soil can exhaust it. It is the increased 

 crops that are taken off the soil that exhaust it. Barnyard 

 manure or green crops should always alternate with any of the 

 fertilizers. Whatever may be the article; guano, bone flour, 

 poudrette, superphosphate, or gypsum; remember you pay a 

 very large price for a very impure article and only use it 

 where, after the most careful economy, your home-made ma- 

 nures fail to be sufficient. In applying any of these fertilizers, 

 care should be taken that they are thoroughly incorporated into 

 the soil. Pulverizers, such as efiective harrows, clod crushers, 

 and subsoilers, assisted by thorough drainage, may be made of 

 greater benefit than all the guano that is imported. 



Before leaving this subject, we will give our idea of the 

 proper formation of the compost heap. When it is desirable 

 to form a compost heap of weeds, straAv, litter, leaves, etc., with 

 muck, without the addition of much dung, ashes and lime, or 

 plaster, should be sprinkled in at the rate of a bushel to each 

 layer. We recommend the long narrow heap rather than the 

 round one. Spread muck at the bottom six inches, then litter 



