130 THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION, November 25, 1856. 
other purposes are also in store, and if it be accessible 
to carts all the better. There are some things I would 
exclude altogether, as being troublesome beyond their 
value; and on that account I would make it a rule never 
to throw any of the trimmings of Horse-radish into the 
heap. Jerusalem Artichokes are nearly as bad; and if 
roots of Dandelion and Crowsfoot could be taken some¬ 
where else, so much the better, as these are sad pests to 
the garden, and retain their vitality under-ground longer 
than most weeds. Couch Grass decays pretty soon. Docks 
and the White Convolvulus are more tenacious of life; 
; hut it is to be hoped these are not often found in gardens; 
j neither ought the other to be except in a small state, 
and all annual weeds may he destroyed in a short time, 
; and with a very slight covering. 
! Amongst the refuse of vegetables the tops of Asparagus 
j are the most durable, and in some light soils the seed 
j buried with them vegetates in due course of time ; but 
these are easily destroyed; but the tops of Asparagus 
may be turned to better account if there is a farm or 
pig-yard, as they make useful and lasting litter. 
Another article which does not decay fast is the 
stalk of the Cabbage and others of that tribe. These 
bad better be stripped of their leaves, and either carried 
to where the other useless things are put, or burnt 
in the general rubbish-heap, when sufficient material 
has been collected to make a fire, which is supposed 
; to include all the useless cuttings of fruit-trees and 
shrubs, and, in fact, anything that will burn.* This 
ready way of disposing of a large heap of otherwise use¬ 
less lumber ought to be made to do some service in other 
ways; and if the weather is dry, and also the materials, 
it will burn or char many things that it would be 
j difficult to find a place for elsewhere, and the ashes are 
I excellent manure. Much, however, has been justly said 
j about the waste of such a mode, and I would only advise 
i it with such things as will not decay readily; and if the 
i quantity of useless wood, stumps of trees, and other 
| things be great, the fire may be made to burn some clay 
as well, which may be done by throwing large lumps of 
it upon the fire when the latter is in a somewhat solid 
state, but do not overload it at once; rather add some 
more a day or so after, and do not by any means throw 
i on any of the small particles until the fire has attained 
some strength. This, however, is a mode of preparing 
manure only necessary in some places, and, in fact, 
cannot well be accomplished in all; it is only alluded 
to here as a means of making the fire consuming the 
! rubbish available another way as well. 
Where pigs are kept much of the refuse vegetable 
! stuff, as Lettuce and Spinach run to seed, and other 
: things that way, may be thrown to them with advantage; 
I but barrow-loads of weeds, the refuse of the potting- 
bench, and all vegetable-stalks not eatable by the pig 
might at once be thrown into the common heap, there 
to ferment and decay. Tree-leaves might form a heap 
by themselves; but short grass, if not wanted for heat¬ 
ing, might be added to the common heap, and do not 
let any large quantity of this lie long without turning, 
as the less they are decomposed before they are applied 
to the ground again the better, provided that the vitality 
of everything in the rubbish be destroyed, which can 
only bo done by lying in a mass, but is often accelerated 
by turning aud exposure to the air. 
Large stones or other useless matters might be kept 
out, and the cinder-ashes of the hothouse furnaces, as 
j well as those from the dwelling-house, might be formed 
i into a separate heap for some special purpose, unless 
i the quantity be small, and then the whole might be 
indiscriminately mixed. 
The addition of a few good soakings with liquid- 
manure may be useful when it can be spared; but I 
* Stalks of Cabbages chopped into small pieces soon decav if dug into 
the soil.—Eu. C. G. 
I 
would not, in general, advise lime to be used, unless 
the material is wanted for immediate use, as there is a 
loss of some of the most useful ingredients of the heap 
by an admixture with hot lime, the latter driving it off; 
but where there are large quantities of herbage of a kind 
difficult to destroy by the ordinary means of decay, it 
would be better to add lime, and mix the whole. Decom¬ 
position is much aided by this powerful corroder, and 
the mixture is exceedingly useful in many places. 
With respect to where it is prudent to put this fer¬ 
tiliser much difference of opinion exists; but there are 
a few points which might be noticed here to guide the 
uninformed. Do not put any on ground intended for 
seedling beds of anything in the Cabbage or Lettuce way, 
and not by any means where Carrots are sown, unless it 
has been liberally doctored with lime. Potatoes, Kidney 
Beans, Peas, and other things are benefited by it, as, 
likewise, are all root-crops except Carrots, which often 
suffer much from insects, which this half-decayed com¬ 
post is said to encourage. 
As an adjunct to the rubbish-heap, or rather, as 
occupying a place near it, the dung-heap ought to be 
conveniently placed. The hot dung that is brought here 
ought to be often seen to, otherwise it is apt to burn and 
become unmanageable ; and as the time has now corao 
for using it in the forcing of Sea-kale and other things, 
a little care in turning and mixing will be amply re¬ 
paid by its after utility. Leaves require less turning, 
unless intended to decay quickly, when the mixture 
of earth and lime will hasten that process. In fact, 
lime acts very quickly that way, and may be applied to 
many purposes with great advantage, although its in¬ 
discriminate use, year after year, on the same ground, 
has bden found prejudicial; but we do not often see 
this, the consequences of its deficiency being more 
generally seen. J. Robson. 
GENERAL NOTES FOR DECEMBER. 
The present being the most opportune, as it is the most 
disengaged, season of the year for kitchen-garden operations, 
should he partly devoted to drainage wherever it is neces¬ 
sary ; and there are very few places where it is not neces¬ 
sary. Many farmers of the present day have given very in¬ 
structive lessons and examples of the benefits of drainage. 
The foundation of most agricultural and horticultural im¬ 
provements is the removal of all stagnant moisture from the 
land by drainage. The benefits of such an operation in 
damp and retentive soils would be soon perceptible in the 
improved condition of the fruit-trees and vegetables, aud in 
the extirpation of a host of insects, by the more healthy 
state of vegetation, and the mellow condition of the soil. 
By such means the soil is, in a comparatively short time, 
made fertile, dry, warm, and early, and the air is also ad¬ 
mitted to the roots of the trees, and which is, also, the 
principal object in digging, ploughing, &c. 
The mode of covering the drains with faggots, straw, or 
any such decomposable material is very uncertain, as tend¬ 
ing ultimately to choke up some portion of the drain with 
silt. One-inch or two-inch pipes are preferable, to be 
covered with a few inches of small stones or cinders, with 
a layer of turf over them, and the soil filled in to the top. 
The drains to be, on an average, twenty feet apart, nearer 
on heavy soils, and farther apart on light soils, and from 
two feet to two feet six inches deep, according to the nature 
and situation of the soil, and with the main drains three 
feet six inches deep, and about forty yards apart. 
Manuring and trenching are to follow after. The digging 
to be done by strong tliree-pronged forks of fourteen inches 
deep, and seven and a half inches wide, which are preferable 
to, and more manageable than, the spg.de, and are also 
cheaper, as, when worked down, they can be re-laid at a 
trifling expense. The earth should not be turned out of 
the trench to a greater depth than ten inches, though the 
fork should get down as far as thirteen or fourteen, as that 
which remains at the bottom in the state of what is called 
