MY OWN PLAN OF MANAGING MANURE. 87 



worked pig-manure will ferment even more rapidly than sheep or 

 horse-manure alone. 



Unmixed cow-manure is heavy and cold, and when kept in a 

 heap by itself out of doors, is almost certain to freeze up solid dur- 

 ing the winter. 



We usually wheel out our cow-dung every day, and spread on 

 the manure heap. 



This is one of the things that needs attention. There will be 

 a constant tendency to put all the cow-dung together, instead of 

 mixing it with the lighter and more active manure from the horses, 

 sheep, and pigs. Spread it out and cover it with some of the more 

 strawy manure, which is not so liable to freeze. 



Should it so happen as will most likely be the case that on 

 looking at your heap some morning when the thermometer is 

 below zero, you find that several wheel-barrowf uls of manure that 

 were put on the heap the day before, were not spread, and are now 

 crusted over with ice, it will bs well to break up the barrowfuls, 

 even if necessary to use a crowbar, and place the frozen lumps of 

 manure on the outside of the heap, rather than to let them lie in the 

 center of the pile. Your aim should be always to keep the center 

 of the heap warm and in a state of fermentation. You do not 

 want the fire to go out, and it will not go out if the heap is prop- 

 erly managed, even should all the sides and top be crusted over 

 with a layer of frozen manure. 



During very severe weather, and when the top is frozen, it is a good 

 plan, when you are about to wheel some fresh manure on to the 

 heap, to remove a portion of the frozen crust on top of the heap, 

 near the center, and make a hole for the fresh manure, which 

 should be spread and covered up. 



When the heap is high enough, say five feet, we commence an- 

 other heap alongside. In doing this, our plan is to clean out some 

 of the sheep-sheds or pig-pens, where the manure has accumulated 

 for some time. This gives us much more than the daily supply. 

 Place this manure on the outside of the new heap, and then take a 

 quantity of hot, fermenting, manure from the middle of the old 

 heap, and throw it into the center of the new heap, and then cover 

 it up with the fresh manure. I would put in eight or ten bushels, 

 or as much as will warm up the center of the new heap, and start 

 fermentation. The colder the weather, the more of this hot 

 manure should you take from the old heap the more the better. 

 Fresh manure should be added to the old heap to fill up the hole 

 made by the removal of the hot manure. 



