34 GARDENING FOR PROFIT. 



either to protect from the sun in summer, or from the 

 frost' in winter, it has no equal. From my experience 

 with this fertilizer, I consider it to be of nearly double 

 the value of that of stable manure. It requires to be 

 composted in the same manner as other manures ; it heats 

 rapidly, and must be either spread regularly over the hog 

 yard, or else turned once in two weeks to prevent "fire- 

 fang" from violent heating. 



Another valuable refuse from our manufactories is the 

 shavings and scrapings from horn or whalebone manu- 

 factories. The best way to render these most available 

 is to compost them thoroughly with hot manure, in the 

 proportion of one ton of shavings to fifteen of manure ; 

 the heated manure extracts the oil from the shavings, 

 which is intermingled with the whole. I have on several 

 occasions seen the mixture of five tons of whalebone 

 shavings with our ordinary stable manure make $400 per 

 acre difference in the value of the crop ; but of course 

 such manufactories are not common, and it is only in 

 certain localities that this fertilizer can be had. 



Another valuable fertilizer from manufactories is 

 " sugar house scum," which is composed largely of blood, 

 charcoal, and saccharine refuse ; as it heats violently, 

 instead of being thrown in heaps by itself, it should be 

 composted with equal quantities of soil or muck, and 

 turned frequently, so that the whole is thoroughly 

 mixed ; when thus composted, it makes an excellent ma- 

 nure at twenty tons per acre ; it is best applied by lightly 

 plowing, or deeply harrowing-in. 



Of concentrated manures, perhaps the best for general 

 purposes is pure Peruvian guano ; this for general crops, 

 when used without the addition of stable manures, is put 

 on at the rate of from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds per acre ; it 

 is first pounded to powder, so that it can be regularly 

 sown over the surface after plowing ; it is then thoroughly 

 harrowed in, and the crop is sown or planted at once. In 



