138 



FARMERS' REGISTER— FERMENTATION OF MANURES. 



the weather very warm for the season. As soon 

 as the rain ceased, began to dig up and lieap the 

 manure of the ox pen, (No. 1.) The oxen had 

 not been on it since December 22d, when they had 

 been moved to a part of the farm yard (No. 3.) 

 January 2d, at 9 o'clock A. M., tlie tenij)erature of 

 the air in the shade was 51° — and at the same time 

 the manure not yet heaped (though it had been 

 somewhat loosened by the hoes the evening be- 

 fore, and possibly fermentation might have been 

 thereby excited,) was 65° to 71°, in different 



E laces. The heap made between 16 and 18 hours 

 efore, was already throwing out warm vapor, 

 smelling of ammonia, and within the bulk was 

 found to be 99°. This unexpected heat and the 

 ammoniacal smell was unexplained then; but 

 afterwards, when using the manure, I learned from 

 my overseer that when he began the heap in my 

 absence, 20 or 30 hand-barrow loads had been 

 brought and thrown on of the rich litter of the 

 covered horse stalls — but finding it too dry for 

 heaping, he had stopped any further addition. 



The heaping which had ceased since the preced- 

 ing night, was now resumed and finislied. The 

 whole heap, thrown up lightly by forks and sho- 

 vels, and not trodden, (except a little at the last to 

 shape the top,) was raised to seven, and in part to 

 eight feet high, the sides cut down as steep as they 

 would stand, and the top left depressed in the mid- 

 dle. A cover of wet leaves (which had been laid 

 in the adjacent road to be ti'odden and absorb wa- 

 ter, but contained no dung,) was thrown over the 

 top to the depth of twelve inches, lying as they 

 fell from the shovels. Over the leaves, soil was 

 thrown about four inches deep, and then sowed 

 thickly with oats. This cover of earth was given, 

 first, to keep the v, hole surface of the manure moist, 

 instead of its dry in g and remaining unchanged six or 

 eight inches in, as when left uncovered; second, to 

 cause all the seeds of cheat and other weeds to 

 sprout, and by that means to perish; third, to ab- 

 sorb the escaping gasses, if that is possible ; and 

 fourthly, to use those gasses in feeding the gi'owth 

 of oats, both to add to the bulk of manure, and to 

 furnish a test or measure of the escape of rich aeri- 

 form fluids. The escape of visible vapor ceased 

 with the adding to the heap. No fluid trickled 

 from the heap, which showed it was not wet enough. 

 The litter of the other yards having been recent- 

 ly added to largely, was not wet enough to heap. 

 No. 3, tried in different places, was at 60°, 61° 

 and 62°. 



I had never heaped manure before, earlier than 

 the beginning of spring weather. My object now, 

 was to have the fermentation completed with as 

 little excess of heat as possible, and to avoid the 

 great loss usually incurred from violent fermenta- 

 tion. If fermentation would go on, it seemed that 

 cold weather would be the best to keep it mode- 

 rate. 



From January 1st to 4th, warmer than usual 

 for the season, and much more so from the 4th to 

 the 7th. Rain on the 7th, and at night the first 

 snow that had fallen during the winter, and a 

 change to cold weather. Several rains and more 

 snow by the 10th, when it became excessively 

 cold, and continued so until the 12th. Thermo- 

 meter not observed out of doors, but was at 20° 

 between 8 and 9 o'clock A. M. on the 11th, in my 

 passage, which is between two rooms with good 

 fires, and in one of which a fire was kept up 



through the night as well as day. On the 10th, 

 the litter of mule pen (No. 2,) was heaped when 

 very wet, and mixed with the litter of the covered 

 stalls. Keing absent at the time, no observation 

 was made by the thermometer ; but from the ex- 

 treme coldness of the weather, I suppose that eve- 

 ry part of the manure must have been reduced 

 nearly to the freezing point by exposure to the air, 

 as it was thrown on the heap. To have as little 

 of surface as possible, and to prevent the mules 

 treading on the manure, the heap was made to fill 

 a round pen of six feet high, and raised above four 

 feet still higher in the middle, or ten feet in all. — 

 No cover of earth or leaves had been laid on. 

 When I first saw the heap, on the 12th, there weis 

 no outward sign of fermentation having commenc- 

 ed ; and, at eighteen inches depth from the side, 

 the temperature was 42°. I feared that it would 

 not begin to ferment, without a complete opening, 

 and second heaping. Dark colored fluid had ex- 

 uded from the heap, and continued to do so for 

 some days later, forming puddles around the base. 

 The heap No. 1, by January r2th, had sunk to 

 five and a half feet high. Most of this loss of 

 height must have been caused merely by the com- 

 pression of the loose litter. No vapor had been 

 seen to escape since it was finished, whence I sup- 

 posed that the cover of earth, by its pressure, had 

 stopped the fermentation. But on striking into the 

 heap with a grubbing hoe, warm steam came out. 

 Before this, there was no outward indication of the 

 slightest warmth, except that the outside was thaw- 

 ed in a few spots, and snow was but thinly sprin- 

 kled on a few other places, though the ground was 

 covered more than an inch deep. The fermenta- 

 tion however had been sufficient to rot the ma- 

 nure enough for me to thrust the helve of a hoe 

 two and a half feet in the side, without much effort. 

 The thermometer put into holes so made in differ- 

 ent places, and about eighteen inches from the sur- 

 face, showed the following degrees of temperature : 



1 18° on the north side, three feet from the ground, 

 and where the mixture of stable manure was 

 made. 

 100° south side, at the same height. 

 78° another place. 



68° — — one foot from the ground. 

 64° — — — — — 



62° deeper in the same hole. 



Poles had been placed in the heap to show the 

 temperature by drawing them out and feeling them. 

 This had been done on the 10th, and it appeared 

 that the heat was greatest about two feet from the 

 outside. But few of the oats had yet come up, 

 and those mostly on the south side, showing that 

 the heat of the sun, more than of the manure had 

 caused them to sprout. 



On the 14th was the first thawing in the shade, 

 and indeed there had been but little in the sun. — 

 Observed a barely perceptible escape of vapor 

 from a fissure in the crust near the top of the 

 oldest heap, (No. 1.) Began to cutaway theouter 

 part of one side of the heap, (where the greatest 

 heat had been found,) for the purpose of examina- 

 tion, and to use some of the manure in an experi- 

 ment. A perpendicular section being made, show- 

 ed that the manure was enough rottetl for use, 

 (about half rotted,) from the outside cover of 

 leaves, to two, or two and a half feet deeper in. — 

 This best rotted part was still very warm, and in 



