USING WASTE MATERIALS 



163 



fermentation can occur. Near the end of the dry season, the 

 corral should be scraped and all the material spread on the land. 

 In this way the cost and trouble of manure piles can be avoided. 



Sheep Manure. The proximity of the orange orchards of South- 

 ern California to extensive sheep ranges led to large use of the 

 manure from the sheep corrals until supplies were practically 

 exhausted. Afterwards large deposits in the San Joaquin Valley 

 were opened and the material, which has shown value by analysis 

 in one case of above $14 per ton, is finely ground and placed upon 

 the market in a business way. One deposit mined for several 

 years by George C. Roeding & Co., of Fresno, was several acres 

 in extent and at some points the material was ten feet deep. Such 

 deposits can seldom be found now except in remote parts of the 

 State. 



Sheep manure is usually counted richer and quicker, though 

 not so lasting in its effects, as stable manure. Being highly nitro- 

 genous, too free use of sheep manure tends to excessive growth 

 of wood, especially on young trees. Old bearing trees may be 

 benefited by such a stimulant. 



VARIOUS WASTE PRODUCTS 



The care advised in saving and treating barn-yard manure, hen 

 manure, bones, ashes, etc., should be extended to other waste 

 products of the farm. Soapsuds should be allowed to run to adja- 

 cent trees unless used in the flower garden, but not too long upon 

 the same trees for it may kill them. Peelings and corings of fruit, 

 cut for drying, should be fed .to pigs and the resulting manure 

 secured. It is not wise to corral the swine in a dry run in the 

 summer and allow the manure to be sluiced out by the winter rise 

 of the stream. 



Prunings. Prunings of the orchard and vineyard should be 

 burned between the rows, in small piles, so as to distribute the 

 ashes well. Danger to adjacent trees may be avoided by using 

 the portable, home-made tin shields on the sides of the fires. It 

 is not wise to carry all the prunings to the side of the highway 

 and burn them there and allow the ashes to be lost. Vineyard 

 prunings are sometimes cut up with an arrangement like a straw- 

 cutter, which reduces them to bits about an inch in length. They 

 are then scattered over the surface of the ground, turned under 

 at the next plowing, and soon decay. Where, through lightness 

 of soil and short rainfall, the woody fiber does not readily decay, 

 burning upon an iron sled about ten feet long is practiced. At 

 its front is a V-shaped iron rod, to which a horse can be hitched. 

 On the sled are flaring sheet-iron sides and perforated bottom. 



