FAMILIAR LESSONS ON PRACTICAL GARDENING. 
413 
and so on, till the heap is made to any size. 
To set it a-light, pull out the billet, and throw 
down the opening a shovel-full of red-hot 
cinders. The chimney is then to be left open 
for a quarter-of-an-hour, that the fire may get 
"well established ; it is then closed, and alter 
this a pointed stick must be used occasionally 
to make a few holes through the heap, so as 
to give vent to the fire ; these holes are first 
made near the top, and they are closed as the 
burning goes on, fresh ones being made lower 
down. If the materials are loose and open, 
the whole heap must be cased over with two or 
three inches of soil, to prevent the fire from 
bursting through in flames. If the fire does not 
burn well, the mouths of the drains must be 
opened, especially on the windward side, and 
these supply air, and, of course, accelerate the 
burning. Neither these, however, nor the 
holes made with the pointed stick, are to be 
allowed so to act as to produce flame ; the 
materials must be smother-burned, not re- 
duced to ashes. 
The flesh of animals is a very powerful 
manure ; this should be buried among layers 
of compost, and sprinkled with lime, to pro- 
mote decomposition, the whole being well 
mixed together before it is applied. It should 
be used as a strong dressing to vacant ground. 
Fish, like flesh, forms an active manure ; 
it should be used as fresh as it can be had, 
and in moderate quantities. 
Blood is a very powerful manure, and 
should be mixed up with earth before being 
used. The scum of the sugar-bakers, from 
the bullocks' blood employed by them, is a 
very strong manure. 
Bones are excellent as a manure, and very 
durable. Bone-dust or fragments are the best 
forms in which to apply them, and they should 
be used at the time of cropping. The addi- 
tion of sulphuric acid to dissolve the bones 
before they are applied, is an advantage. 
This is done thus: Place lOOlbs. of bone- 
dust in a conical heap, and pour water enough 
to wet it through ; let it stand for a couple of 
days ; then spread it out in a hollow -cup 
form, trodden firm, and pour again as much 
water as the bones will absorb ; then pour 
gently over the bones 30 lbs. of sulphuric 
acid ; then mix all up together again into a 
conical heap, and let it stand for a couple of 
weeks, when it will be ready for use. 
Horn, hair, woollen rags, and feathers are 
all excellent as manure, and should be mixed 
up with layers of soil, so as to be decomposed 
before they are applied. 
The dung of animals, birds, &c, as is well 
known, forms the most useful class of manures ; 
that of different subjects varies in quality, but 
we speak of them in the aggregate. Manures 
of this class should be mixed up with layers 
of earth, the urine being added, and in this 
state of combination well turned and mixed, 
and then applied as a winter di'essing. 
Nightsoil is perhaps the most powerful of 
all manures, and the most generally neglected. 
It should be mixed in layers with soil, sprink- 
ling it with lime; and this, after being turned 
and mixed together, may be applied to the 
ground the same as other animal excrement. 
Or it may be mixed with enough powdered 
charcoal to render it dry and deodorous. The 
charcoal of peat is the best for this purpose. 
Lime is an excellent application to soils 
which contain much inert vegetable matter, 
as is the case generally with the soils of old 
gardens ; but it should never be applied along 
with animal manures. 
These are some of the principal manures, 
vegetable, animal, and mineral ; and they are 
sufficient to show that an abundance of mate- 
rials for manuring purposes exist within the 
reach of all. 
Wherever there is a farm or a garden, a 
manure-heap should always be in preparation. 
At the bottom may be placed a layer of weeds, 
grass, fern, or any kind of litter, and on this 
whatever manures can be collected should be 
spread in regular layers intermixed with 
layers of turfy soil of any kind. If it can be 
had, soil of a different texture from that of 
the garden, as explained under the head, 
Amelioration of the Soil, is preferable. 
Any turfy soil is preferable to soil without 
turf, on account of the vegetable matter it 
contains. On the layer of litter, about six 
inches in thickness of the soil should be spread, 
and then on this about the same thickness of 
manure of any kind, such as litter, dung from 
the pig-sty, cow-house, or farm-yard, and 
nightsoil (privies should be constructed so 
that the soil can be easily got out from behind, 
and scattered over with lime occasionally to de- 
stroy the disagreeable smell) ; the layer of 
dung should be at once sprinkled over with a 
little soil, and the rest of the layer may be 
added at any time before another layer of 
manure is thrown on. An occasional layer of 
litter or vegetable matter of any kind may be 
added, and the heap may be from time to time 
moistened with the slops from the chamber, 
or the liquid which drains away from the 
heap itself ; enough of these may be applied 
to keep the mass moderately moist, but not 
too much saturated. In this way, manure 
may be accumulating from one season to an- 
other, and a large supply will in this way be 
provided with but little trouble, and at the 
expense of labour only. These materials 
should be turned over once or twice and well 
mixed together ; and when the turning of the 
heap commences, another should be formed to 
take the fresh materials. When about twice 
