1885 



gleani:ngs in bee culture. 



61 



guauo, phosphate, or any other fertilizer. 

 The best thing to mix with the stable ma- 

 nure I know of is rotted sods, but you can 

 not always get these handy. Perhaps the 

 best you can do will be to get some soil from 

 the richest part of your garden. If your 

 manure and garden soil are both fi'ozen up 

 it will give you an appetite to dig out enough 

 to fill a box or two so as to get things started. 

 You can thaw them out near the fire, or per- 

 haps in the cellar. If you can get hold of 

 some peat from a peat - swamp, you want 

 some of that also. A heap of it in the cellar 

 will be nice to have. You will remember 

 how much Mr. Terry and other prominent 

 agricultural writers have said in favor of 

 tine tilth. If they can afford to plow and 

 harrow^ acres so as to get it worked up fine, 

 we can afford to take some pains with a lit- 

 tle box full. The nicest way to get soil for 

 plants in a fine state of subdivision, and at 

 the same time get out all the sticks, stones, 

 trash, etc., is to sift it. By all means, /reezc 

 it thoroughly, and then thaw it before you 

 undertake to sift it. If you have not a 

 good sieve suitable for tbe purpose, you can 

 purchase one for about ten cents. We give 

 a picture of three such sieves in the figure 

 below. 



they should be sifted, and every thing that 

 does not go through the sieve should go back 

 into the tire. Coal ashes are sometimes 

 treated in the same way, and the coal and 

 coke you get out of the ashes to burn over 

 again will well repay you for the time and 

 trouble. Some wood ashes will be tiptop to 

 put in your seed-bed, but you do not want 

 more than a teacupful in a whole box of 

 earth, and it must be very thoroughly mixed 

 with soil by stirring it up and sifting it in. 

 Your muck, or peat, also wants sifting ; and 

 where you have much sifting to do, soil, 

 peat, ashes, etc., a regular ash-sifter to put 

 over a barrel is a nice and cleanly arrange- 

 ment. We give a pictui'e of the ash-sifter 

 below. 



SQUARK SIEVES FOR GAKDENERS' I'SE. 



vSift the stable manure if you can. If you 

 can't, break it up into little bits. If it is old 

 enough and rotted enough, so you can break 

 it up and make it go through the sieve, it is 

 just what you want ; but if it is the kind 

 that is 'black, and can be cut up, something 

 like cheese (beg pardon for the illustration), 

 it will do very well, for it will soon work up 

 fine by use. While speaking of the sieves, I 

 wish to say that such sieves are very handy 

 for many pm"poses in the household. The 

 ashes from your stove, if you burn Avood, 

 make an excellent fertilizer, and are to be 

 saved very carefully. Before using them 



You will notice that this sifter sifts your 

 material nicely in a barrel. The lids shut 

 down so that the ashes do not fly around the 

 room and make your wife trouble. Such a 

 machine costs about ^1.25. If your soil is a 

 clay soil, a mixture of sand is excellent for 

 raising most vegetables. Eadishes, for in- 

 stance, grow nicer in sand or gravel, proper- 

 ly enriched, than almost any thing else. 

 While speaking of sand I want to say that a 

 sand-sieve is a splendid thing for sifting 

 soil, peat, etc., especially where you have 

 enough to do to take it outdoors. We use 

 one such as is show^n in the cut on next page. 



They are also nice for sifting gravel for 

 making gravel walks; also for sifting coal. 

 One end is to be propped up at such an an- 

 gle that, when you shovel the dirt, sand, 

 or gravel, against the upper end, it slides 

 down of itself. An economical way to use 

 such a machine is to have two wheelbarrows 

 side by side. Stand the screen so it rests in 

 one wheelbarrow, sloping over the other. 

 Pitch your mellow soil against the top end ; 

 the fine dirt goes through into the wheelbar- 

 row below, while the coarse particles run 

 down into the other wheelbarrow, then 

 wheel the contents of each where you want 



