=Wood Ashes.=--Wood ashes is rich in potash, and is particularly valuable with potatoes, fruits of all kinds, etc. But it is a great error to mix wood ashes with fresh manure of any kind, especially with hen manure, as the escape of ammonia is hastened and much value is lost. =Natural and Artificial Manures.=--Where the home supply of manure is insufficient for a piece of ground, necessitating the addition of artificial manure, it is universally conceded to be good practice to stretch the natural product over the whole tract and then to go over the whole tract with an artificial fertilizer. =Irrigation.=[A]--In connection with a review of the home sources of manure the item of irrigation must not be overlooked, for it is thoroughly well established that water is a carrier of appreciable amounts of fertilizing materials. In European countries large areas of pasture and mowing lands are fertilized by water alone, the irrigation being regarded as of great value on this account, aside from the fact that it supplies moisture to the grass roots. Most streams in the United States contain more or less sewage, and in respect to irrigation are valuable on that account. [Footnote A: The reader is referred to our new book on this subject. It is entitled, "Irrigation by Cheap Modern Methods." See illustration next page, also pages 83 and 125.--Johnson & Stokes.] =Waste Products.=--Many waste or by-products, available for use as fertilizers, come from time to time within the reach of the farmer or gardener, especially to those living near towns or railroads. The average market house, be it said with regret, is none too clean, and refuse in considerable amounts could be had there for the trouble of sweeping. Cattle cars often contain several inches of valuable droppings, to be had for next to nothing. Street-scrapings are worth the trouble of hauling, if the distance is short. The manure lost on the highways is very great in amount, and may be worth the cost of collection. 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. [Illustration: An Illustration from Johnson & Stokes' New Book--"Irrigation by Cheap Modern Methods."] =Value of Manure.=--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. [Illustration: Bacteroid Tubercles on Red Clover Root. Drawn from Nature.] These figures are based on the assumption that the animals 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.