NORTH-CAROLINA GEOLOGICAL 8UEVEY. 191 



loads of muck or peat, three loads of an excellent fertilizer 

 may be made. These materials should be well incorporated 

 and receive from time to time all the refuse matter of the 

 house, yard and garden, or anything which will ferment 

 under the influence of the necessary conditions. Wool, hair, 

 refuse animal matter of all kinds, become of the utmost im- 

 portance in composting. One important addition should not 

 be neglected ; that is plaster of paris. In the absence of 

 that, dirt sprinkled with copperas water, which is not expen- 

 sive, will make an absorbent of the gasses. That dirt alone, 

 or earth, has strong absorbent powers, we have sufficient 

 evidence in the fact, that very little odor escapes from the 

 carcass of a decaying animal body when it is perfectly cov- 

 ered. But additional earth should be added from time to 

 time, as the first becomes saturated with the effluvia. The 

 matter which escapes under these circumstances, is ammonia, 

 which is one of the active principles paid for in guano, which 

 makes the difference in the price of Peruvian and Mexican 

 guano. Compost heaps require a small proportion of lime, 

 but wherever animal matters or excrements are concerned, 

 there should be a large intermixture of muck or peat. No 

 good farmer adds lime to his barn-yard manures ; it may be 

 done only where nndecomposed vegetable matter is ready to 

 absorb the disengaged ammonia. 



SUMMER SOILING. 



One of the most important measures for carrying on a suc- 

 cessful and profitable scheme of husbandry, is to incorporate 

 with the general plan or system, that of soiling cattle. Its value 

 has been fully established, both in this country and Europe. 

 Apparently, it is objectionable from the amount of labor it 

 requires ; but this objection vanishes when it is put in prac- 

 tice, and becomes the every-day business of those appointed 

 to superintend it. Cattle, when soiled, must be confined to a 

 yard, at least, and fed on mown grass, lucerne, clover, or corn 

 sown broadcast. A large stock may be kept on five acres of 

 ground, or, it may be made to yield that of thirty acres of 

 pasture lands. After being fed in stables, they may be driven 



