Fowls  and  pigs  should  have  their  dwelling-places  kept
clean,  both  because  they  thrive  better  if  thus  kept,  and  also
to  avoid  the  breeding  of  flies  or*  of  vermin  in  the  poultry
place  or  pig-shed.  The  refuse  from  green  vegetables  which


GENERAL  AMENITIES  AND  VALUE  OF  GARDEN  19

cannot  be  used  for  the  domestic  stockpot  can  be  boiled  and
mixed  with  the  other  soft  food  for  the  hens.  For  the  pigs  it
is  probably  waste  of  time  to  boil  the  material.  Hens,  how-
ever, take  a  long  time  to  eat  hard  pieces  of  refuse,  such,
for  example,  as  cauliflower-leaves  or  cabbage-stalks,  which
thus  lie  about  looking  untidy  for  several  days.  If,  however,
these  are  cut  up  and  boiled  they  are  readily  eaten.  Most
other  varieties  of  domestic  refuse  which  cannot  be  given  to
animals  can  be  burnt  on  the  fire.
Offal,  when  present,  is  best  buried  in  the  garden,  and  this
may  also  be  the  fate  of  refuse  which  is  not  burned  or  given
to  the  fowls.  Thus,  with  a  little  trouble,  there  should  be  no
accumulation  of  waste  material  in  or  near  the  house.  Flies
will  breed  in  any  such  place,  and  flies  are  the  carriers  of
disease  germs,  in  addition  to  making  the  walls  and  other
parts  of  the  house  dirty.  Real  cleanliness  is  almost  impos-
sible where  flies  are  present  in  large  numbers.  The  essential
point  is  that  there  should  be  no  breeding-grounds  for  flies,  and
this  the  housewife  can  secure  by  the  above  simple  measures.
The  refuse  which  has  been  considered  hitherto  is  the  dry
refuse  from  kitchens  and  fires,  but  there  are  other  forms  of
waste  material,  where  the  garden  is  equally  or  more  useful
as  a  means  of  disposing  of  it.
