Fertilizers 



49 



as suggested above. In buying manure keep in mind 

 not what animals made it, but what food was fed- — 

 that is the important thing. For instance, the ma- 

 nure from highly-fed livery horses may be, weight 

 for weight, worth three to five times that from cattle 

 wintered over on poor hay, straw and a few roots. 



There are other organic manures which it is some- 

 times possible for one to procure, such as refuse 

 brewery hops, fish scraps and sewage, but they 

 are as a rule out of the reach of, or objectionable 

 for, the purposes of the home gardener. 



There are, however, numerous things constantly 

 going to waste about the small place, which should 

 be converted into manure. Fallen leaves, grass clip- 

 pings, vegetable tops and roots, green weeds, gar- 

 bage, house slops, dish water, chip dirt from the 

 wood-pile, shavings — any thing that will rot away, 

 should go into the compost heap. These should be 

 saved, under cover if possible, in a compact heap 

 and kept moist (never soaked) to help decomposi- 

 tion. To start the heap, gather up every available 

 substance and make it into a pile with a few wheel- 

 barrows full, or half a cartload, of fresh horse man- 

 ure, treading the whole down firmly. Fermentation 

 and decomposition will be quickly started. The heap 

 should occasionally be forked over and restacked. 

 Light dressings of lime, mixed in at such times, will 

 aid thorough decomposition. 



