On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 13:59:52 -0000, "shazzbat"
wrote:

"Frogleg" wrote

There are many reasons for growing 'organically' or non-. 'Organic' is
certainly cuter, and doubles the smugness factor. :-) It's also
economical, if you happen to keep animals which produce manure that
would otherwise be a disposal problem (see: hog waste pools). But
'organic' evidence seems to include a lot of anecdotal material.

More anecdotal material follows.--

I was talking to an old boy a while ago on some allotments some way from
ours. It turns out this geezer had had an allotment during the war, and he
pointed out the house he used to live in then, and told me that they used to
keep a pig in the garden as many people were encouraged to do during the
war, and he had the allotment adjacent to his garden. Then he said " We used
to throw the pig manure over the garden wall onto the allotment and dig it
in later"

Exactly! Any gardener with an ounce of sense makes use of materials
available. I have no experience with pig poo, but an un- (under-)
utilized oversupply that is concentrated in 'hog waste ponds' is a big
problem for US meat producers. Not to mention their neighbors.

Many 'organic' procedures seem so simple. Don't clog landfills with
leaves and lawn trimmings -- compost them if there's space. Pig poo
appears to be less desirable than that of strictly vegetarian animals,
but it's probably a good thing to put on the garden (in less than
million-gallon quantities!). If I could protect them in cold weather,
I'd love to have a 'chicken tractor.'

BUT I'm not a criminal if, in the absence of domestic animals and
their aftereffects, I choose to buy a plastic bag of commercial
fertilizer for my tomatoes and squash.