MY OWN PLAN OF MANAGING MANURE. 85 



yards, sheds, cow and horse stables, pig-pens, and hen-house, to- 

 gether with leaves, weeds, and refuse from the garden, and wheel 

 or cart it to the intended heap. If you set a farm-man to do the 

 work, tell him you want to make a hot-bed about five feet high, six 

 feet wide, and six feet long. I do not think I have ever seen a 

 farm where enough material could not be found, say in November, 

 to make such a heap. And this is all that is needed. If the ma- 

 nure is rich, if it is obtained from animals eating clover-hay, bran, 

 grain, or other food rich in nitrogen, it will soon ferment. But if 

 the manure is poor, consisting largely of straw, it will be very de- 

 sirable to make it richer by mixing with it bone-dust, blood, hen- 

 droppings, woollen rags, chamber-lye, and animal matter of any 

 kind that you can find. 



The richer you can make the manure, the more readily will it 

 ferment. A good plan is to take the horse or sheep manure, a 

 few weeks previous, and use it for bedding the pigs. It will 

 absorb the liquid of the pigs, and make rich manure, which will 

 soon ferment when placed in a heap. 



If the manure in the heap is too dry, it is a good plan, when you 

 are killing hogs, to throw on to the manure all the warm water, 

 hair, blood, intestines, etc. You may think I am making too 

 much of such a simple matter, but I have had letters from farmers 

 who have tried this plan of managing manure, and they say that 

 they can not keep it from freezing. One reason for this is, that 

 they do not start the heap early enough, and do not take pains to 

 get the manure into an active fermentation before winter sets in. 

 Much depends on this. In starting a fire, you take pains to get a 

 little fine, dry wood, that will burn readily, and when the fire is 

 fairly going, put on larger sticks, and presently you have such a 

 fire that you can burn wood, coal, stubble, sods, or anything you 

 wish. And so it is with a manure-heap. Get the fire, or fermen- 

 tation, or, more strictly speaking, putrefaction fairly started, and 

 there will be little trouble, if the heap is large enough, and fresh 

 material is added from time to time, of continuing the fermenta- 

 tion all winter. 



Another point to be observed, and especially in cold weather, is 

 to keep the sides of the heap straight, and the top level. You 

 must expose the manure in the heap as little as possible to ist 

 and cold winds. The rule should be to spread every wheel-bar- 

 rowful of manure as soon as it is put on the heap. If left un- 

 spread on top of the heap, it will freeze ; and if afterwards cov- 

 ered with other manure, it will require considerable heat to melt 

 it, and thus reduce the temperature of the whole heap. 



