COMPOSTING MANURE. 79 



broadcast over the surface. This top dressing is mixed 

 with surface soil by the use of a horse hoe or small 

 plow. The manure is thrown over all the surface 

 between the trees, and not, as I have frequently no- 

 ticed in different orchards, close to the body of each 

 tree. 



The orchardist should have, at all times, in some 

 convenient spot near his fruit trees, a compost heap. 

 If it is made up of barn-yard manure and old sods 

 or head lands, the longer it is kept in the heap the 

 more thorough will be the decomposition, and, as a 

 matter of course, the manure will be in a better 

 condition for appropriation. If swamp muck is ac- 

 cessible, and it can be purchased at one dollar for a 

 two-horse load, it will pay to cart and compost it in 

 the following way : the muck should be thrown up 

 in ridges for some months before hauling to the yard 

 or other convenient spot for composting. With every 

 cord of muck, mix four bushels of salt and lime 

 mixture, and then to every nine cords of this mixture 

 add one of barn yard manure. The whole should 

 be well worked together, and put in a square heap 

 until thoroughly decomposed. The mass may be 

 turned over once every three months, and at each of 

 these turnings, small quantities of super-phosphate 

 of lime, ground bone and wood ashes should be 

 added in such a way that they may be evenly dis- 



