MANURES 19 



manage a manure heap with a certain amount of care 

 and intelligence. During the summer months hot 

 manure is not required, but large quantities are secured 

 and are kept in reserve until autumn, when the beds 

 are made. On the outskirts of Paris enormous heaps 

 of manure may be seen during the summer months, 

 and in August men may be seen with bare legs and 

 trousers turned up to the knees, turning over the 

 heaps and watering them copiously. The straw or 

 litter is forked out and kept in conical heaps by itself. 

 The short and more or less well-rotted portion which 

 is left should also be made into similar conical heaps, 

 so that the rain may run off more easily without 

 making the heap sodden. The liquid from a manure 

 heap, however, should not be allowed to run waste, 

 as it contains valuable plant foods. If allowed to run 

 into a hollow place at the foot of the heap, the liquid 

 can then be thrown over the manure from time to 

 time, thus preventing it from getting too hot and 

 mouldy. 



It sometimes happens, when manure is improperly 

 managed by leaving the rotted and unrotted portions 

 mixed up together without being turned and watered, 

 that a heap catches fire much in the same way that 

 haystacks do in summer and autumn, owing to the 

 enormous heat generated by decomposition in the 

 interior. Accidents of this kind are very costly, and 

 the only way to prevent a manure heap being totally 

 consumed is to give it a thorough drenching with 

 water. 



