ARTIFICIAL MANURES 5 



The heating within the piles commenced almost at once, and the heaps had to 

 be reforked and sprinkled with water to lower their temperature. During the 

 entire time of decomposition the heaps were either sprinkled with water or re- 

 forked when the temperature rose to the vicinity of 65° Centigrade (149° Fahren- 

 heit). The rates of decomposition of the different organic materials were not the 

 same, thus making it necessary to water or refork the heaps on different dates, 

 but the total number of waterings and reforkings was the same for each heap. 

 The temperature readings taken in the center of each heap are shown graphically 

 in figure 1. It is to be noted that the temperatures of the manures differed greatly 

 only with the types of organic material and differed only very slightly with the 

 different chemical treatments. Higher temperatures were obtained for a longer 

 time with the corn stover. The piles made from leaves were very slow in heating 

 and never attained the high temperatures of the corn stover or straw piles. 



Water was added as needed to keep the mass saturated but below the point 

 of excessive leaching. The sprinkling of the straw and leaf heaps had to be per- 

 formed with care, for these materials had a tendency to shed water at first. After 

 each sprinkling the temperature made a decided drop and then came up again 

 within a day or two, but never to the previous high temperature reading. 



The leaves decomposed much more slowly than the corn stover or straw. The 

 corn stover piles were the first to take on the appearance of rotted manure, while 

 the piles from leaves took twice as long before they began to appear decomposed. 

 It was this slow rate of decomposition of the heaps made from leaves that pre 

 vented the use of this manure in the vegetation tests. 



At the end of 135 days the temperature in the centers of the heaps made from 

 straw and corn became constant and equal to the outside air temperature, which 



Table 1. — Pl.^nt Nutrients in Organic M.\terials Used in Making 

 Artificial Manure and in the Finished Product — Moist Basis 



Weight Moisture Nitrogen Phosphoric Potash Calcium Magnesium Total 

 Material Pounds Percent Percent Acid (K„0) Oxide Oxide Insoluble 



(P.Oj) Percent (CaO) (MgO) Matter 

 Percent Percent Percent Percent 



Analysis of Organic Materials 



Corn stover.. 1,702 41.2 ,49 .22 1.02 



Odt straw 1.185 15.6 1.00 .26 2.03 



Mixed leaves 1.513 33.9 .60 .17 .13 



Analysis of the Artificial Manures 



Corn Stover with 

 Ammonium sulfate 2,965 

 Cyanamid 3,033 



Oat straw with 

 Ammonium sulfate 2,880 

 Cyanamid 2.723 



Leaves with 

 Ammonium sulfate 2,671 

 Cyanamid 2,513 



Leaves and garbage 

 With Cyanamid 71.5 



The author was assisted by the Control Service in making these analyses. 



