NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 2OI 



weeds of all kinds (unless with ripe seeds, when they should 

 be burnt), lawn mowings, leaves, and pea or bean stalks, 

 &c., in fact anything which will rot, always shaking out the 

 stable manure or green stuff into an even layer, never so much 

 as a barrowful being left in one spot, building up the sides 

 as plumb . as the walls of a house. Between every three or 

 four layers throw a sprinkling of the earth taken out to 

 prevent it heating too much, or a dressing of ashes if at 

 hand, also all the kitchen or house waste (old boots or tin 

 cans excepted), and don't forget to add the droppings from 

 the fowl-house, breaking up any lumps, or better still, throw 

 dry earth under the roosts, and clean out oftener and so 

 prevent lumps. After every layer of stable manure or green 

 stuff, tread it down well, and so on, layer by layer, never 

 more than four or five inches of any one kind ; or if there 

 should be rather more stable manure than other materials, 

 throw over more soil, which will absorb the moisture and 

 assist in the decomposition ; scratch the sides down with 

 the fork, leaving it as neat as a stack, but with a flat top, 

 and when about four feet high cover over all with a layer of 

 three or four inches of soil to keep in the ammonia ; then if 

 at hand, after it has been allowed to heat for a week or so, 

 throw over it liquid waste from the house, &c., and if any 

 liquid should run from the heap, dig a hole at the lowest 

 corner to catch it, and throw it back over the top. Of course 

 if pigs and cows are kept the mixture will be all the better ; 

 and in about three or four months the whole will be found in 

 prime condition for any kind of crop. A heap of this kind 

 should always be under weigh, so as to dispose of all waste 

 or decaying matter, and the garden, &c., may be kept in 

 much better order ; and whenever the heap gets about four 

 feet high, top up and start another. 



How to make a Mushroom Bed. Get half-a- 

 dozen loads of stable manure ; shake out the long straw, 

 and put the short manure in heaps to ferment. This it soon 

 does, when it should be turned to let out the fiery gases, and 

 moderate the heat, when it is ready for putting together. 

 The way to make the bed is to place the manure ridge 

 fashion, say three feet or four feet through at the bottom, 

 and about the same in height, making it narrow at the ridge, 

 and treading it down quite firm as the work proceeds, placing 



