AMERICAN HOME GARDEN. 63 



or they may be safely sown in drills, with or upon the seed, at 

 the rate of one light handful of the former or two such hand- 

 fuls of the latter per foot. 



When sown broadcast, ta-feu may be used at a rate varying 

 from one to five barrels, and poudrette from ten to forty barrels 

 per acre. They prove efficient aids to almost every variety of 

 vegetable crop ; but they are by no means so useful if their ap- 

 plication be deferred until the crop is growing, unless when 

 mixed in hills prepared for setting out, though the disadvan- 

 tage may be partially overcome by carefully mixing and cov- 

 ering them in the earth around the young plants. 



MANURE HEAP. 



.Every homestead, however small, should have upon it a cor- 

 ner or hollow where refuse matters of all kinds may be thrown 

 together as they accumulate, upon which slops may be thrown, 

 and ashes sifted, &c., &c. In the course of the year a pretty 

 large heap of valuable manure, or, rather, compost, will be pre- 

 pared, which should be occasionally turned and mixed with 

 good earth. 



GARDEN COMPOSTS. 



Ordinary compost for garden use may be made by mixing the 

 manure of spent hot beds with equal quantities of fresh barn- 

 yard or stable manure and swamp muck, or sods pared from 

 alongside fences, or from any spot where water often settles. To 

 these add air-slaked lime equal to one twentieth of the whole 

 bulk, and an equal quantity of unleached ashes, or double this 

 quantity of leached, and throw in and cover any decaying animal 

 matter or drainage of the slaughter-house. Watch the heap, 

 keeping a stick thrust into its centre to serve as a thermome- 

 ter. Whenever, on withdrawing the stick, you find it getting 

 hot, turn the heap over, and inside out ; reinsert the stick, turn- 

 ing the whole again when the heat begins to rise, and at each 

 time, after turning, sow plaster (gypsum) pretty thickly over it. 

 In a few weeks, if the weather be moderate or warm, it will 

 be ready for use. 



It is proper to observe that lime should be mixed with stable 



