ON FARM GARDENING. 
19 
if the distance is short. The manure lost on the highways 
is very great in amount, and may be worth the cost of collec- 
tion. There will some day be a machine for gathering this 
manure from the roads by horse-power, as it would amply 
repay the expense of driving such a machine along every 
much-used highway. 
Value of Hanure — Dr. Beal figures the values per ton 
of the several farm-made manures as follows: Hen manure, 
$7.07; sheep, $3.30; pigs, $3.29; horses, $2.21; cows, $2.02. 
These figures are based on the assumption that the ani- 
mals are well fed, and that no leaching of the manure is 
allowed, with gypsum used as a preservative, 
and good care exercised in all respects. It 
must not be supposed that all manure has such 
value, or that any manure will retain such 
value under careless treatment 
Green Manuring — The system of green 
manuring, as formerly understood and prac- 
ticed, had two purposes in view. One was to 
supply the soil with needed humus; the other 
to furnish winter protection and prevent wash- 
ing. The practice is a very old one and has 
much to commend it. Not only do plant roots 
draw up fertility from considerable depths, to 
be afterward deposited in the superficial soil 
when the growing crop is turned down by the 
plow, but the process favors chemical changes 
in the soil by the admission of air and sun- 
light and by the decomposition of leaves, stems 
and roots. But nothing whatever in the way of 
new fertility is added by turning down a rye crop, for in- 
stance. 
Cultivating the Legumes — The present system of 
green manuring contemplates something in addition to what 
Bacteroid Tu- 
bercles on Red 
Clover Root. 
Drawn from 
Nature. 
