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ing and storing of these treasures of agricultural wealth I 

 A compost heap, under a good shelter, is to the uninformed 

 a heap reeking with filth, repulsive to the eye and offensive 

 to the olfactories. But to the scientific farmer it is a bed of 

 power. In it are contained the yellow grain and the lus- 

 cious fruit ; over it hovers the spirit of the rose and the 

 lily, and sweet odors are stored in it, to make the fragrant 

 pink and the delicious heliotrope. Let every consideration? 

 of economy and enterprise stimulate the farmer, then, to 

 aave every waste of the farm. The Chinese are so sensible 

 of the importance of manure, in a country teeming with an 

 over population, where the soil is tasked to its utmost to 

 carry its population, they even save the parings of their 

 inger and toe nails to add to its fertility. The farmer has 

 a wonderful bank to draw upon for this purpose. Cattle 

 and horse dung and urine, the scrapings of the barn- yard 

 after every rain, straw, stalks, leaves of the forest, drifts on 

 the banks of streams, all contribute their share in the 

 general enrichm.ent of the farm. And any one would be 

 surprised at the amount accumulated for the spring scattering, 

 if systematically carried on for one year. It requires but a 

 little time, too, if a regular time be given to it. Regularity 

 and system are the great watchwords of improvement. 



Millions of dollars are annually wasted by burning straw 

 and stalks, which, if carried to the stables and barn yard, 

 would act as solvents, to catch this daily waste. If the 

 ashes, resulting from the burning straw, were as good 

 manure as the straw itself, then burning would not be waste- 

 ful. But a large amount of valuable matter goes into the 

 air as gases, besides much is blown away by the winds. A 

 Mr. Lawes, of England, determined this matter of burning 

 manure in an experiment that was both fair and positive. 

 He took 28 tons of yard manure, and divided it; 14 tons 

 were reduced by fire, leaving 32 cwt. of ashes. He then 

 scattered the 14 tons of manure left on one acre of land, 

 and the 32 cwt. of ashes on another acre of land, and left 



