86 TALKS ON MANURES. 



It is far less work to manage a heap of manure in this way than 

 may be supposed from my description of the plan. The truth is, 

 I liiid, in point of fact, that it is not an easy thing to manage ma- 

 nure hi this way ; and I fear not one farmer in ten will succeed 

 the first winter he undertakes it, unless he gives it his personal at- 

 tention. It is well worth trying, however, because if your heap 

 should freeze up, it will be, at any rate, in no worse condition than 

 if managed in the ordinary way ; and if you do succeed, even in 

 part, you will have manure in good condition for immediate use 

 in the spring. 



As I have said before, I keep a good many pigs. Now pigs, if 

 fed on slops, void a large quantity of liquid manure, and it is not 

 always easy to furnish straw enough to absorb it. When straw 

 and stalks are cut into chaff, they will absorb much more liquid 

 than when used whole. For this reason we usually cut all our 

 straw and stalks. We also use the litter from the horse-stable for 

 bedding the store hogs, and also sometimes, when comparatively 

 dry, we use the refuse sheep bedding for the same purpose. Where 

 the sheep barn is contiguous to the pig-pens, and when the sheep 

 bedding can be thrown at once into the pig-pens or cellar, it is 

 well to use bedding freely for the sheep and lambs, and remove it 

 frequently, throwing it into the pig-pens. I do not want my sheep 

 to be compelled to cat up the straw and corn-stalks too close. I 

 want them to pick out what they like, and then throw away what 

 they leave in the troughs, for bedding Sometimes we take out a 

 five-bushel basketful of these direct from the troughs, for bedding 

 young pigs, or sows and pigs in the pens, but as a rule, we use 

 them first for bedding the sheep, and then afterwards use the sheep 

 bedding in the fattening or store pig-pens. 



*' And sometimes," remarked the Deacon, " you use a little long 

 F.I raw for j*our young pigs to sleep on, so that they can bury tlu-m- 

 selvcs in the straw and keep warm." 



14 True," I replied. " and it is not a rnd plan, but we are not now 

 talking about the management of pigs, but how we treat our 

 manure, and how we manage to have it ferment all winter." 



A good deal of our pig-manure is, to borrow a phrase from the 

 pomologists, "double-worked." It is horse or shecp-manr.re, 

 used for bedding pigs and cows. It is saturated with urine, and is 

 much richer in nitrogenous material than ordinary manure, and 

 consequently will ferment or putrify much more rapidly. Usually 

 pig-manure is considered "cold," or sluggish, but this double- 



