Now, decayed vegetable matter is part of what makes up stable and barnyard manure, street and stable sweepings; but, in practice, this does not afford enough humus: that is one reason why crops of clover, cowpeas, velvet-bean, buckwheat, etc., are often grown only to be plowed into the ground in the fall. These are the green manures which decay and become a part of the soil before the next planting season. Soil fertilized in this way will be richer, moister, darker, than soil fertilized solely by stable manure or commercial fertilizer. Soils that contain enough plant food to supply crops for a thousand years to come, are often barren or yield but a niggardly crop. This may be because they lack humus, which is the key that unlocks the store of plant food in the soil, and makes it available for the seeds and tender rootlets. How much more humus may do, we do not yet know, but every year fresh discoveries are made, and if we are to be benefited by them, we must get ourselves ready for the new truths by using those already known. On his famous farm in Birmingham, Pa., “Bob” Seeds plows his cowhorn turnips, tops and all, into the earth in the fall, and by spring they have decayed. He says wherever a turnip has rotted, you can see the difference in the color of the soil even some distance away, and the abundance of the next season’s crop shows how quickly Nature responds when we work with her. All vines and garden waste may be used for humus if plowed into the ground in the fall, unless they have been infested with insects or troubled by diseases. It is well established, that insects and their eggs manage to live over the winter by the aid of vines and refuse left lying about, as well as by weeds that the careless farmer has failed to destroy. It is well to cut all weeds, not only those that bother you in your garden, but also those that grow along the road, as often their seeds are carried by the wind or the birds into your garden patch. Gather them into a heap and burn them, adding to your bonfire all the sickly, dead, diseased, or insect-ridden vines and plants, and completely destroy them. You may be sure that the bugs on those particular plants will not bother you next year. What you lose in possible humus by this practice, you can make up by growing green manure, or even by buying some of the prepared humus materials now on the market.