172 Cottage Gardens, live Stock of the Cottager, 



be placed, side by side, one always being filled while the other is being 

 emptied ; and a portion of this stale wash daily mixed with a few potatoes 

 that have been boiled, bruised, and put away dry in a box or basket, will 

 make good food for a growing pig during the summer season ; though, of 

 course, more substantial food will be required before the animal can be pro- 

 perly fattened. 



Sty and Cesspools. — If a sty has not already been erected near his cot- 

 tage, no industrious man will rest an hour until he has constructed one ; 

 which may easily be done, when no better materials can be got, with a few 

 posts, well wattled and thatched with heath or furze. For paving a sty, 

 large flat stones are better than bricks ; and, where the pig has to lie, the 

 ground should be kept high and dry. A channel on the lower side should 

 likewise be made, to take the washings of the pig and rain into two cisterns 

 or cesspools, which should be sunk, side by side, close to the sty *, so as 



should be about 6 or 7 ft. wide, with height in proportion. In order to keep 

 the pigs dry, a sufficient slope must be given, not only to the floor of the 

 inside, or sleeping-place, but to the outside, or eating and exercising area ; 

 and, according to Marshal, every pig should have a rubbing-post. 



The pig is an animal by no means nice in its food, as he will graze, eat 

 cabbage leaves, common turnips, Swedish turnips, turnip tops, potatoes, 

 &c. &c. ; but the potato is the most nutritious article generally produced 

 from the garden. They ought never to be given in a raw state, for it is an 

 established fact, that, when so given, they will scarcely keep swine alive ; 

 but, when boiled (and the water in which they are boiled should be in- 

 variably thrown to the dungheap or cesspool), potatoes will contribute not 

 only to the growth but to the fattening of pigs. Such food, given in abun- 

 dance, will make a pig grow freely, and keep him in tolerable condition ; 

 but, for properly fattening him, food of a more nourishing quality must 

 be given. Barley-meal, buck wheat, or barley-meal and pea-meal, given in 

 a state of acetous fermentation, is considered very excellent for fattening 

 hogs. The animal ought to be inured to this food by degrees, to prevent a 

 surfeit. — A Friend to a Cottager. 



* Manure- — A very great deal of manure may be collected from the road 

 and lanes. A pit should be sunk and puddled near to the privy. In this all 

 soapsuds and other refuse should be preserved. The privy manure is very 

 useful, when mixed in a compost. Quite sufficient manure may be collected 

 in this way for a cottage garden of a quarter of an acre. The pig and 

 poultry will make as much dung as will manure ground sufficient to grow 

 potatoes to supply the family a year; and any farmer will gladly let 

 ground to a cottager for that purpose, rent-free, foiv, the sake of the effect of 

 the dung on the succeeding crop. — Shibboleth. 



Management of Manure. — The manure may be procured from the pig- 

 sty, the cleanings of the rabbit-hutches, and the litter of the garden, all of 

 which should be collected into a pit, and covered with a layer of earth to 

 prevent the escape of the gaseous part. Care should be taken to throw a 

 layer of earth over every additional quantity of manure ; and if a little lime 

 or salt could be afforded, and strewn over it beneath the layers of earth, 

 decomposition would be accelerated, and the quality of the dressing greatly 

 improved. Manure may also be increased by collecting dead leaves, which, 

 in autumn, may easily be procured in considerable quantities, wherever 

 there are hedges or trees, and which may be added to the other refuse. 

 It is also a custom, in very general use amongst cottagers, to collect manures 

 from the roads and commons. For the reception of the manure, it will be 

 requisite to have two pits, otherwise part of it will become too much de- 

 composed before the other is fit for use. If possible, these should be situ- 



