THE KITCHEN OR FARMER's GARDEN. 247 



compost should be used on the garden ; and a neg- 

 lect of this rule will subject the cultivator to much 

 inconvenience and loss. The best compost is made 

 *of successive layers of stable manure and vegetable 

 mould, such as old turf or muck from swamps ; the 

 earths absorbing and retaining the gases from the 

 fermenting dung, and thus aiding the decomposition 

 of the vegetable or fibrous matter existing in the 

 mould. Where convenient, the compost heap will 

 be much increased in value by keeping it under cov- 

 er, and by turning and mixing the ingredients once 

 or twice after the active fermentation has ceased. 

 We have tried, and seen tried by others, a mode of 

 preparing compost, which appeared in a considera- 

 ble degree to unite excellence of compost and profit 

 in its formation. In one part of the garden let a 

 trench five or six feet in width, and from twelve to 

 eighteen inches in depth, be made, into which, as 

 early in the spring as may be practicable, stable or 

 long manure is to be placed, forming a kind of mound 

 or ridge, the central part of which may be some 

 three or four feet in height from the bottom. Over 

 this the earth removed from the trench is to be 

 thrown, and enough added to make a covering of ten 

 or twelve inches in thickness, on which, at the prop- 

 er season, some of those plants that require or will 

 bear such a position (pumpkins, squashes, or even 

 cucumbers and melons may be so grown) may be 

 planted ; and the decomposition, while going on, pro- 

 duces heat sufficient to give the greatest luxuriance 

 to the vegetables, while the manure is at the same 

 time preparing for application the coming season. 



The time of preparing the soil for the reception 

 of the seed must of course depend much on the 

 circumstances of quality and exposure, but more on 

 that of climate, influenced as this must in a great 

 measure be by geographical position. Thus, while 

 green pease are plentiful in tlie market at Charles- 

 ton, they are blossoming at Norfolk, in earh , vigor- 



