Bermuda's old recycled phone books seem to be a hit with farmers these days as it helps to produce the best looking and tasting vegetables around.

But shredded paper does not do the trick on its own. After replacing saw dust and wood shavings as bedding for some horses -- it has the ability to keep them warm in the winter and cool in the summer -- it is put into a compost heap and then plowed into the garden causing the ground to remain moist and giving plants all the nutrients and fertiliser they need.

Norman Terceira Sr. of Terceira's Stables in Devonshire said he was probably the first person to start using the paper in his stables.

"The paper has been processed up at the Recycling Plant and it makes the best bedding for the horses because it doesn't heat up like saw dust or wood shavings which can be too hot for animals,'' Mr. Terceira said.

He added: "In the winter time it's warm and in the summer it's cool. We clean it out every day and then it's put into a compost heap and then from there it's plowed right into the ground which is nice because the farmer is also recycling.

"It goes back to the land, that's the beauty of it. It goes from phone book, to bedding, to fertiliser.'' Mr. Terceira said he had to beg farmer Joseph Amaral to take the compost from his stables even after telling him the benefits from its use.

"But after he took it and used it in his garden he came to see me and took me to his garden to show me how great his crop of broccoli was. Where he had used it the broccoli was knee high with big heads but the section where he didn't use it had barely grown with tiny heads of broccoli.'' He also said the paper for the phone books has no chemicals and no longer contains lead from the ink. "It's not artificial fertiliser -- it's the real thing.

"It gives vegetables and plants a much better quality and it keeps the quality longer.

"I have been trying to get everybody to start using this fertiliser for fear that the recycling plant may stop recycling the phone books,'' Mr. Terceira said.

He said the fertiliser is also good for flowers. "It really can't be beat.'' Joseph Amaral from Bleak Farm on Watlington Road said although he is unable to get the compost anymore from Mr. Terceira -- he sold it to farmer Tom Watson -- he still sees the benefits of plowing loads into his garden last year.

The compost stays in the ground for three years. "This particular compost is very good, you can't see the paper it just looks like fertiliser,'' Mr. Amaral said.

He added: "That paper is easy to rot down and once the compost is in the ground it makes it fluffy.

"We had a bumper crop. I've had the best corn in years and I picked 18 tomatoes from one plant and still have 13 left on the same vine. One tomato weighed a pound a half.'' Mr. Amaral also said the difference with his vegetables is like night and day.

"The vegetables looked better were healthy and very strong. I wish I could get that manure back I love it especially for strawberries. Where I used the compost the strawberries grew like a big vine spreading all over the field.'' He added that the only down side about the compost is the fact that weeds also like. "There are a lot of weeds but it's worth it all.'' Tom Watson of Luke's Farm uses the compost and believes that it's good stuff and it works. Although, the amount of work that goes into creating it can be overwhelming.

"It's the way we like to farm. When we don't use the compost there is a difference but it is a very expensive process for us to handle it. We have to pile it, stack it and turn it and we add things to it. It does work but it's a lot of work.'' Mr. Watson added that to use this particular compost has to be a conscious call you need to make because of the work it entails. But "I had a good crop of watermelon last year. It can help.''