SELF-MAINTAINING FERTILITY 219 



decaying vegetable matter, which is one of the 

 essential elements of a productive soil. The func- 

 tions of this vital humus are (i) to lighten and 

 loosen the soil, and (2) to absorb and hold moisture, 

 thereby rendering more constant the water supply 

 therein. If you have a heavy clay soil that tends 

 to puddle and bake, plow or dig under a crop of 

 rye every fall, and plenty of manure during the 

 summer, then watch the transformation. On the 

 other hand this wonderful humus will do just as 

 much good to an extremely light, sandy soil, through 

 which the moisture drains too rapidly, and which 

 is almost devoid of raw plant food. 



AVAILABLE MANURE FOR EVERY SMALL GARDEN 



Street sweepings are almost always available, 

 and if mixed with lawn cuttings, leaves, etc., make 

 excellent manure. It has been found, by the way, 

 that horse manure is about one-third more valuable 

 than that of cows or hogs. Of course, if you keep 

 a horse or cow, you will have plenty of these mate- 

 rials; if not, you can generally buy them from livery 

 stables, but try to get manure that you have reason 

 to think is free from weed seeds and is fresh. You 

 will probably be able to keep it with less loss than 

 they would in the stable yard, so don't make a 

 fuss about getting "well-decayed manure only." 

 If hogs can work over the manure, they will both 

 enrich it and improve its condition. As I have 

 already said, compost all the vegetable waste from 

 the place, with whatever manure, table scraps, 

 etc., you save. 



