MANURES. 171 



821. Let the outside enclosure be of considerable 

 size, giving at least one square rod to the first tenant, 

 and half as much more to each additional occupant. 

 It is agreed on all hands that American farmers have 

 land enough. They can afford to give their pigs a suf- 

 ficient range. The ground should be dishing, the same 

 as in the barn-yard, and for the same reason — that no- 

 thing may run over in wet weather ; and the materials 

 for the pigs to work over should be so abundant as 

 never to evaporate to dryness in the dryest times. 



322. Now, what is to be done that a lot of swine 

 may produce, partly in the " natural way," and more 

 by the manufacture of raw materials, ten loads each, 

 per year, of excellent compost ? If the number to be 

 kept be ten, this would give a hundred loads. Sup- 

 pose this to be the average number for the year, and 

 let us see how the thing is to be done. In the first 

 place, put around the outside of the pen, or outer 

 yard, seventy-five loads of peat, swamp muck, road- 

 scrapings, top-soil, or whatever you can best procure, 

 and then proceed as follows. 



323. After the pen has been cleared of its last year's 

 manure, throw in plentifully of this to begin with. 

 Let it be scattered over the whole enclosure several 

 inches in depth. As it becomes thoroughly moistened 

 with rains and the droppings of the animals, throw in 

 more, and so on, through the summer and fall, throw- 

 ing in, more or less, nearly as often as you feed the 

 swine, and taking care that it always be moist, but 

 seldom or never thoroughly drenched. The quantity 



