CH. x] Composts 187 



cent, of the nitrogen instead of the 50 per cent, in (a). 

 This higher rate, however, is only appUcable before a 

 crop is grown because the extra benefit is attributed to 

 the ammonia formed from the urine. Their values are 

 given in Table XIII. The weakness of the method as 

 generally practised is that the nitrogen of farmyard 

 manure is not always good for grass land^ and yet the 

 incoming tenant is expected to pay for it. 



Composts. A compost is a heap of mixed vegetable 

 and animal matter put up so that it can decompose and 

 form useful organic manure. The art of making com- 

 posts was well known to agriculturists during the 'fifties 

 and 'sixties of the past century, and farmers and 

 gardeners made great use of them before large quantities 

 of artificial fertilisers were available. Indeed, in the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle for 1845, Mr Errington describes 

 no fewer than 20 different composts for garden pur- 

 poses, and explains their uses. He attributes some of 

 the most marked of the then recent advances in horti- 

 culture to a better understanding of the use of com- 

 posts. 



Mr Hannam of Kirk Deighton, Wetherby, writing in 

 Morton's Cyclopaedia of Agriculture in 1855, describes 

 the best method known to him of making composts on 

 the farm. He describes three kinds, Farmyard Manure 

 composts, Lime composts and Earth composts. The 

 Farmyard Manure composts were made by mixing sods, 

 turf, leaves, heath, moss, rushes, weeds, clippings, etc. 

 (but not animal refuse), with farmyard manure in 

 alternate layers each about 1 ft. in thickness, and 

 covering the whole with a coating of earth. After the 

 mass had undergone considerable decomposition it was 

 ^ See e.g. Hanging Leaves field at Cockle Park. 



