PREPARATION OF THE MANURE. C9 



spawn. But we should never nse spent hops alone, nor 

 so near the surface of the beds that the spawn will have 

 to travel through it. 



Spent hops can be had for nothing, and our city brew- 

 ers even pay a premium to the manure agents to take 

 the hops away. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 



PREPARATJON OF THE MANURE. 



Get as good a quality of fresh horse manure as you 

 can, and in sufficient quantity for the amount of bed or 

 beds you wish to make. Next get it into suitable con- 

 dition for making up into beds. This can be done out 

 of doors or under cover of a shed, but preferably in the 

 shed. Out of doors "the manure is under the drying 

 influence of sun and wind, and it is also liable to become 

 over-wetted by rain, but under cover we have full con- 

 trol of its condition. All the manure for beds between 

 July and the end of October is prepared out of doors on 

 a dry piece of ground, but what is used after the first 

 of November, all through tiie winter, is handled in a 

 shed open to the south. During the autumn months 

 we get along very well with it out of door? ; after every 

 turning cover the heap with strawy litter to save it from 

 tiie drying influences of sun and wind. Remove this 

 covering when next turned, and lay light wooden shut- 

 ters on top of it as a precaution against rain. In the 

 shed in winter the manure is protected against rain and 

 snow and we can always work it conveniently ; when the 

 shed is open to the south — as wagon and wood-sheds 

 often are — we get the benefit of the warm sunshine in 

 the daytime in starting fermentation in the manure, but 



