38 BOARD OF AGKICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Two men are usually sent on the wagon, and they make two 

 trips a day. 



When the manure is piled on the farm, it is in some spot 

 convenient to the cultivated land. Onto these piles of fresh 

 manure is thrown all the waste from the wash-house. The 

 best way to build the pile is to make a bottom as large as 

 desired and keep the top levelled as each load is added. 

 Piles built in this wa}^ and tramped hard will not burn much. 

 Some market gardeners use a lot of water on manure when 

 overhauling in the summer for fall use. In February and 

 March all the manure is overhauled once or twice, usually 

 twice, and made ready to use. 



We find some market gardeners about Boston who have a 

 clayey soil plowing in about 10 cords of strawy manure in 

 the fall, and as much more in the spring. By so doing they 

 can get very good crops. AVhere the land is heavy or late, 

 and the crops planted on it are celery, onions or parsnips, it 

 is advisable to manure in the tall. 



Some interesting experiments have been tried with manure 

 on market gardens, and some of them have been very costly. 

 There is probably not a market gardener present who has 

 not at some time injured a crop with too much manure, 

 or more often some of his crops ha^'e suffered for lack of 

 manure or proper application. 



Manure which has had well-fed hogs on it will be found 

 highly beneficial to early spring spinach, but it is very in- 

 jurious to the small red radish. Manure which is too rot- 

 ten is dangerous stuff to use in large quantities for lettuce. 

 It is much safer to use fresh manure for lettuce ; in fact, it 

 will grow the best lettuce. In the open field or hotbed I 

 have found nitrate of soda great for lettuce, (^ow manure is 

 first class for corn, spinach and beets. We used one year 

 something lik(; ()00 cords of manure from the cattle j^ards in 

 Watertown, and found it especially good for spinach and 

 beets. 



The help on most of our market gardens is largely Italian. 

 It is good help, intelligent, quick to ciitch on and very in- 

 dustrious. It is easy to get helj) on any farm near Boston 

 where the carfare by trolley is only five cents, but beyond 

 that limit it is nuich harder to act it. 



