48 Home Vegetable Gardening 



there is no time to be lost waiting for manure to 

 rot in the soil. That is a slow process — especially 

 so in clayey or heavy soils. So on your garden use 

 only manure that is well rotted and broken up. On 

 the other hand, see that it has not "fire-fanged" or 

 burned out, as horse manure, if piled by itself and 

 left, is very sure to do. If you keep any animals 

 of your own, see that the various sorts of manure — 

 excepting poultry manure, which is so rich that it 

 is a good plan to keep it for special purposes — are 

 mixed together and kept in a compact, built-up 

 square heap, not a loose pyramidal pile. Keep it 

 under cover and where it cannot wash out. If you 

 have a pig or so, your manure will be greatly im- 

 proved by the rooting, treading and mixing they 

 will give it. If not, the pile should be turned from 

 bottom to top and outside in and rebuilt, treading 

 down firmly in the process, every month or two — 

 applying water, but not soaking, if it has dried out 

 in the meantime. Such manure will be worth two 

 or three times as much, for garden purposes, as that 

 left to burn or remain in frozen lumps. If you have 

 to buy all your manure, get that which has been 

 properly kept; and if you are not familiar with the 

 condition in which it should be, get a disinterested 

 gardener or farmer to select it for you. When pos- 

 sible, it will pay you to procure manure several 

 months before you want to use it and work it over 



