fi4 AMEEICAN HOME GABDEN. 



or barn-yard manure while it is 3-et cool, ami not after ferment- 

 ation has made much progress, or -nhile the process is going 

 on, otherwise it tbives off instead of preserving the ammonia. 



ASH COMPOST. 



Ash compost may be made with equal parts of unleached 

 ashes and gypsum, carefully mixed or sifted together. The 

 mixture should be kept dry, and applied to crops for which it 

 is suitable before rain, either full -handed, broadcast, or a good 

 handful to each hill spread over it. 



GUAXO COMPOST, &C. 



Guano or milcached hen manure, mixed with one half the 

 bulk of ground gj'^DSum and fom- or five times the bulk of light, 

 rich loam, the whole being thoroughly mixed and sifted to- 

 gether, and allowed to lie for a few weeks in a dry place, being 

 turned once or twice in that time, will become thoroughly in- 

 coiporatcd, and may be applied, even by inexperienced hands, 

 without the risk which often attends their use in an unmixed 

 state. When applied, this compost should be covered, and not 

 merely spread upon the hill like ash compost. 



For top-dressing grain, for grass, or fruit-trees, guano shoidd 

 always !« well sifted and powdered, and mixed with at least so 

 much common earth as may serve to keep do'wn its unpleasant 

 dust in sowing, as well as to prevent loss by wind. In this 

 state it may 1)0 used at the rate of two, three, or four hundred 

 ])0unds to the acre. 



For flower composts, see directions under that head, p. 443. 



LIQUID MANURE. 



Ordinai-y liquid manure is the drainage of the stable or the 

 liarn-yari.l, preserved in a tank or pond -hole, and applied ly 

 means of a spriukling-cai't or watering-pot. Of the drainage 

 from the stable, each forty gallons may be reckoned worth as 

 much as an ordinary caiman's loaif of manure. The value of 

 bam-yard drainings is very variaJjle, depending on the form 

 and soil of the yard bottom, amount of exposure, and quantity 

 of rain. 



