FERTILIZERS. 41 



any part of the soil of the compost heaps as they pitch it 

 over, such soil can have no richness. Now, one of the 

 wonderful properties of dry soil is the avidity with which 

 it takes ammonia to itself; and it may always be safely 

 inferred, that, in a well-mixed compost heap of fish-waste, 

 the ammonia has diffused itself through every portion of 

 it ; and, all portions being assumed to be rich plant-food, it 

 should be used accordingly. Owing to the great richness 

 of manure made from fish in bulk, it is wiser, even after 

 composting it, to use it broadcast, rather than in the hill. 

 Fish "churn," or "pomace," may be used either broadcast 

 and harrowed in, or by first composting with poor manure, 

 to enrich the same. If, after being broken up fine, it is 

 put in thin layers with the manure, it will help the devel- 

 opment of heat, which will tend to fine it up, so that it will 

 combine with the mass when it is -pitched over. A third 

 way is, to compost it with soil, waste turf, muck, or saw- 

 dust. In either way it is composted, it is always good 

 farming to take careful notes of how many barrels go into 

 the heap, that from that we may know how much of pot- 

 ash, ammonia, and phosphoric acid we are applying to any 

 given crop, and govern ourselves accordingly. There are 

 two mistakes made in applying too heavily to one to 

 applying too sparingly. 



It is surprising how penetrating is the ammonia from 

 fish-compost. For this reason, in making a heap, the bot- 

 tom layer of soil should be a foot or more in thickness. I 

 have seen cases, where the fish was mixed liberally, where 

 the soil was full of ammonia for several feet below the 

 surface. In making the compost heap, after spreading 

 the bottom layer, which should be thicker when whole fish 

 or the coarser waste is used, cover this with sufficient waste 

 to just hide the soil ; then cover with sod or soil about six 

 times the depth of the fish ; and thus proceed, scattering 



