Preserving Green Forage 117 



piles may be used as compost heaps by adding 

 to them such articles as will enhance their 

 value for general purposes, special crops, or 

 the special needs of the land. Such articles 

 as yield potash, phosphoric acid, soda, mag- 

 nesia, nitrogen, and ammonia, may be added 

 weekly, spreading them over the piles, and 

 saving all the droppings, liquid or solid. This 

 I do partially by keeping the piles under cover 

 out of the way of frost, passing a current of 

 air over them whenever I can get it above the 

 freezing point. This removes a large quantity 

 of water, retaining the valuable part of the 

 liquid manure, and keeps the manure of proper 

 consistence for retaining the gases, using for 

 bedding sand, loam, sawdust, straw, and other 

 dry litter, as absorbents and disinfectants. 

 These things add to the manure in quantity 

 and quality, and should be used also to get 

 the best results mechanically, also saving the 

 manure values, that usually escape as gases, 

 by fixing or compounding them as they rise 

 from the piles. To illustrate, if you spread 

 acid superphosphates (which means bone 

 treated with sulphuric acid in excess) over the 

 piles in good mechanical condition for mod- 

 erate decomposition, the gases which are 

 evolved will unite with the acid phosphates, 



