, etc. Much attention is also required in the
management of the cattle on the estate, for without a proper
system the amount of manure produced will be proportionately
small. They should be bedded up every night hock deep with fresh
litter and the manure thus formed should be allowed to remain in
the shed until it is between two and three feet deep. It should
then be treated on a "Geoffrey" pit (named after its inventor).
This is the simplest and most perfect method for working up the
weeds from an estate, and effectually destroying their seeds at
the same time that they are converted into manure.
A water-tight platform is formed of stucco - say forty feet
square - surrounded by a wall two feet high, so as to form a
tank. Below this is a sunken cistern -say eight feet square -
into which the drainage would be conducted from the upper
platform. In this cistern a force-pump is fitted, and the
cistern is half filled with a solution of saltpetre and
sal-ammoniac.
A layer of weeds and rubbish is now laid upon the platform for a
depth of three feet, surmounted by a layer of good dung from the
cattle sheds of one foot thick. These layers are continued
alternately in the proportion of three to one of weeds, until the
mass is piled to a height of twenty feet, the last layer being
good dung.
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