37 



ditch, and if the planter be thrifty, cover loosely with plank the 

 whole bottom ; haul the materials to the spot, and commence 

 building the pile from below upwards. 



Having thoroughly soaked the cotton seed with all the water 

 it will absorb, mix it intimately with the dissolved bone, and 

 build up the pile to any convenient height, like the roof of the 

 house, giving enough slope to shed rain ; finish each section to 

 the top, sprinkle on the outside with dissolved bone, and cover 

 with hay or straw like a stack; then proceed in like manner 

 with the next section above; the advantage of finishing each 

 section' being that decomposition starts sooner, so that by the 

 time the last section is done, the first will the sooner be ready ; 

 neatly finish up the job and leave, to nature. 



In about a week or ten days, active putrefaction has set in 

 and the interchange of elements above referred to goes on. The, 

 drainage water in the barrel should be poured back on the pile 

 from time to time, and the interior of the pile examined as to 

 its temperature and dampness, by running a small grooved pole 

 into it; should it be dry, and not moist, all action will cease, 

 and water should be poured on the top ; after the interior of the 

 seeds is disintegrated, the heat diminishes, and the compost may 

 be used ; but if the pile be composed of material other than 

 cotton seed, and not so easily decomposable (such as straw, 

 leaves, etc.,) when the heat nearly ceases, the pile should be 

 turned. 



It is sometimes asked whether the mixture of seed and dis- 

 solved bone could not be as advantageously made in the soil ; 

 but it would appear not, for the following reasons : 



If the mixture is made in the soil, the conditions are more 

 favorable for eremacausis, or slow decay, than for putrefaction, 

 owing to the more free access of oxygen ; so that the nitrogen 

 of the seed would go off as free gas, and any of it that would 

 be inclined to form ammonia, from putrefaction occurring in 

 some portion of the mass, would be induced by the presence of 

 the carbonated bases in the soil to form nitric acid, which is 

 much more readily lixiviated than ammonia. As also in the 

 germination of seeds some nitrogen escapes as free gas, so in the 

 soil, where the germination would proceed farther than in the 

 pile, more nitrogen would be lost. 



In the pile, the seed, owing to moisture, sprouts, and the 

 young plant, from contact with the acid of the dissolved bone, 

 and from a want of oxygen, light, and from the heat, dies, and 

 is then subject to the laws of putrefactive decomposition ; the 

 valuable nitrogen uniting with hydrogen to form ammonia, 

 which is immediately seized by the phosphoric acid and re- 

 tained, the matter may be thus tabulated: 



Objections against mixing in the Soil. 

 Loss of Nitrogen. 

 Less Humus. 



Formation of Nitric Acid rather than 

 Ammonia. 



Points in favor of the Pile. 

 Nitrogen saved as Ammonia. 

 Humus formed. 

 Rapid decomposition. 



