p. And this is all that is needed. If
the manure is rich, if it is obtained from animals eating clover-hay,
bran, grain, or other food rich in nitrogen, it will soon ferment. But
if the manure is poor, consisting largely of straw, it will be very
desirable to make it richer by mixing with it bone-dust, blood,
hen-droppings, woollen rags, chamber-lye, and animal matter of any kind
that you can find.

The richer you can make the manure, the more readily will it ferment.
A good plan is to take the horse or sheep manure, a few weeks previous,
and use it for bedding the pigs. It will absorb the liquid of the pigs,
and make rich manure, which will soon ferment when placed in a heap.

If the manure in the heap is too dry, it is a good plan, when you are
killing hogs, to throw on to the manure all the warm water, hair, blood,
intestines, etc. You may think I am making too much of such a simple
matter, but I have had letters from farmers who have tried this plan of
managing manure, and they say that they can not keep it from freezing.
One reason for this is, that they do not start the heap early enough,
and do not take pains to get the manure into an active fermentation
before winter sets in. Much depends on this. In starting a fire, you
take pains to get a little fine, dry wood, that will burn readily, and
when the fire is fairly going, put on larger sticks, and presently you
have such a fire that you can burn wood, coal, stubble, sods, or
anything you wish. And so it is with a manure-heap. Get the fire, or
fermentation, or, more strictly speaking, putrefaction fairly started,
and there will be little trouble, if the heap is large enough, and fresh
material is added from time to time, of continuing the fermentation all
winter.

Another point to be observed, and especially in cold weather, is to keep
the sides of the heap straight, and the _top level_. You must expose the
manure in the heap as little as possible to frost and cold winds. The
rule should be to spread every wheel-barrowful of manure as soon as it
is put on the heap. If left unspread on top of the heap, it will freeze;
and if afterwards covered with other manure, it will require
considerable heat to melt it, and thus reduce the temperature of the
whole heap.

It is far less work to manage a heap of manure in this way than may be
supposed from my description of the plan. The truth is, I find, in point
of fact, that it is _not_ an easy thing to manage manure in th