THE MANURE PILE. 119 



up in the yard or pen, containing more or less litter, 

 should be most carefully accumulated, either by storage 

 under a shed, or by building it into a compact heap, or 

 by frequent removal to field or garden, to be spread 

 whenever convenient. 



Hog manure is a heavy product and quite hard to 

 handle on account of its weight, and hence the work of 

 caring for it is expensive. I know that labor can be 

 ill spared on the farm for anything except the neces- 

 saries, but I come back to the point of beginning and 

 urge that it is necessary to take care of a product worth 

 $12 per year per animal. 



Do anything with hog manure except waste it. 



The common practice is to allow the manure to 

 accumulate under the hogs, layer by layer, and to haul 

 it out only once or twice a year. This practice is not 

 a bad one under some circumstances. If the pig pen 

 is surrounded by a solid stone wall, so that no water 

 except rain can enter, and no leachings can escape, and 

 if there is plenty of litter to be worked up, it may be a 

 good plan to allow the manure to thus accumulate. 

 But I always fear the contamination of some near-by 

 well of drinking water, to say nothing of the injury sus- 

 tained by pigs compelled to perpetually breathe the 

 products of fermentation and to lie down upon couches 

 that are always mouldy and often wet. Such manure 

 beds, with pigs upon them, often occupy the basements 

 of "barns. 



It is time to regard the pig as a clean rather than 

 as an unclean animal ; and I think the markets will 

 compel this change of treatment, for cleanliness is di- 

 rectly in the line of choice pork products. 



