THE 
GARDEN YARD 240 
returns in manure, if you know enough or care 
enough, to preserve it properly. 
When immediate spreading on the fields is 
not possible, the manure, both liquid and solid, 
should be kept in a tight pit, or under cover. 
If too much litter has not been used, the liquid 
part will prevent loss from too rapid fermenta- 
tion But if there is litter enough to make the 
manure very dry, some water should be added 
from time to time to let fermentation go on 
without loss. Manure thus cared for will be 
ready for use on the land at any time that it 
is needed, and will contain practically all the 
necessary fertilizing properties. 
A German proverb says: “The manure pile 
is the farmer’s bank.”’ All farmers these days 
know the value of good manures, which ac- 
counts for their buying so much commercial 
fertilizer, but some day they will know the 
value of saving the whole of the stable and 
barnyard manures, so as to avoid the cost of 
commercial fertilizers. Then there will be less 
of that unscientific talk of “depleted soils,” 
and no grumbling about “ decreased yields.” 
Sea-weeds, ashes, “mucks,’’ and bones are all 
valuable as manures if handled properly. The 
Maine Agricultural Experiment Station, at Or- 
ono, Me., has published a bulletin, No. 74, on 
