Tlip Comjjost Heaj) a YaluahU Adjunct 27 



flower -yard irrigation and for fire protection. The 

 cheapest and most satisfactory water -lifter is the hy- 

 draulic ram, which can be used wherever a fall can be 

 secured in a near-by creek or branch. If devoted to no 

 other use than watering stock, supplying the family 

 bathtub and the kitchen sink, the expense of the ram, 

 piping and tank proves a judicious investment. 



One -fourth acre, properly prepared and cultivated, 

 will furnish more and better vegetables and small fruits 

 than an acre treated in the usual way. The manui-e 

 necessary for a small garden may be made by compost- 

 ing in some out-of-the-way place, but convenient of 

 access, all refuse material from the yard and garden aud 

 the slops from the house, including pickle brine, w^aste 

 salt from meat and wood ashes. All of this material 

 may be collected from day to day into a slight excava- 

 tion and occasionally forked over. No animal manures 

 should be used in this, but they should be composted 

 separately with concentrating and protecting substances. 

 Lime and ashes may be used to advantage in the com- 

 post of refuse material, but not with animal manures, 

 lest they cause a loss of ammonia. They will hasten the 

 decomposition of the vegetable matter and thus briug it 

 more promptly into condition for use. If there is added 

 to this compost a few loads of leaf -mold from the 

 woods, its value will be materially increased. It will be 

 ready for use on the garden soil when the vegetable 

 matter has been broken down and the whole converted 

 into a dark peaty mass. Stable manure, fresh and 

 unfermented, should not be used in the garden 

 unless applied in the fall and incorporated with the 



