FARMERS' REGISTER— FERMENTATION OF MANURES. 



141 



■warm. The heat had entirely subsided in all parts 

 near the suri'ace, and in some cases, as far as two 

 feet inward. The temperature in different places 

 was found to be 76=, 77 ^ 88=, S2=, 88=, and 94=— 

 the two last being in the part least rotted. The cold 

 pait of the heap was as much reduced as I supposed 

 desirable. 



Began to carry out No. 2. This heap Avas still 

 the wettest, and showed mouldiness in only a few 

 spots. Its general temperature was low, and it 

 was less rotted than No. 1, though the fermenta- 

 tion was still in progress. The hottest places found 

 were 96° and 94= — elsewhere 80°. These mea- 

 surements were made at two and a half leet within 

 the bulk. Nearer the surface the heat became 

 less. This heap, though much the richest, and not 

 protected by any covering of earth, had passed 

 through a more gentle fermentation, and seemed 

 to have sustained less loss than either of the others 



March 2d. Dug into No. 3 for examination. — 

 The heat much abated, and much damage found 

 from tire-fanging. 



8th. Had been some days carting manure from 

 No. 3 to the field intended for corn, and spreading 

 and ploughing it in. The heap had sunk to about 

 four feet : but much the greater part of its loss of 

 height (as in all other cases of dunghills lightly 

 heaped,) was from the mere subsidence and com- 

 pression of the materials. The upper half seemed 

 enough reduced by fermentation, (or was in a more 

 than half rotten state,) but the lower part w^as not 

 much changed. Fire-fanged places were frequent, 

 and most so where the manure was best rolted. — 

 An empty barrel, open at both ends, had been set 

 on the yard, and covered over by the oldest part of 

 this heap, to try what effect would be produced by 

 that bulk of air surrounded and enclosed by the 

 fermenting manure. The barrel was reached this 

 day, and the surrounding manure was found to be 

 somewhat better rotted, and having more fire- 

 fanged spots, than elsewhere. JSly thermometer 

 having been broken, prevented any observations 

 of temperature. In the first week of March, a 

 large part of this heap had been moved to a distant 

 part of the field, and there heaped again about six 

 feet high. The earth was then too wet for the ma- 

 nure to be distributed over the field, and this mov- 

 ing and second heaping was done to lighten the fu- 

 ture labor of carting, and also to try the effect of a 

 second fermentation being excited. It recom- 

 menced, but very slowly ; vapor did not show ge- 

 nerally over the heap until the 18th of March, 

 when a thin sprinkling of earth Avas thrown over 

 part of the top. The vapor was still visible on the 

 28th, when the weather-was very cold. 



It should have been stated that the cattle 

 were confined generally through the day to the 

 pen, (except v/hen driven to water,) during the 

 depth of winter. After the clover began to spring, 

 they were allowed to pick a little of it every 

 day, and about the 20th of iMarch, all were 

 moved to another pen more convenient to their 

 pasture. It vi'as evident that their litter given 

 since February 1st, was too dry and too poor of 

 itself, and too little mixed with animal matter, to 

 be fitted for spring use by heaphig. 



May 4th. Carting on the corn land (just ahead 

 of the first liorse-hoeing of the young plants,) the 

 manure drawn from No. 3, and heaped a second 

 time. It was still quite warm, between 110= and 

 120°, as was supposed from the touch — and more 



rotten and better reduced than any of the other 

 heaps — the lower half less rotted than the upper. 

 Not much fire-fanging perceptible — though some- 

 thing of it seen in every part. The portion that 

 had been slightly covered with earth was least rot- 

 ted, but the difference was inconsiderable. Vapor 

 still poured out where the heap was opened, and 

 was the more easily observed as the weather was 

 cold and damp. 



No. 1 — The ox-pen manure made 165 mule loads. 

 No. 2— The stable-pen— — 234 — — 

 No. 3— The cow -pen — — 1365 — — 



The last quantity includes that heaped a second 

 time in the field, 344 loads. 



From all the observations which have been de- 

 tailed, (I fear at tiresome length,) and from all the 

 ei-rors committed, 1 think the following inferences 

 may be relied on. 



1. The greatest error was not making the ma- 

 nure of No. 3 wet enough. This deficiency might 

 have been easily prevented by turning streams of 

 rain water into the yard. The w ettcr the heap, 

 provided it does not stand in a pool of water, the 

 more gentle, regular, and the less wasteful will be 

 the fermentation. 



2. The heaps in every case were made too high, 

 and the fermentation of the lower part of the mass 

 retarded or prevented by the compression caused 

 by the weight of the upper part. 



3. The want of sufficient moisture instead of 

 preventing fermentation, makes it more rapid and 

 violent — and with sufficient access of air, produces 

 fire-fanging, Avhich destroys much of the value of 

 manure so affected. The richer manures (as sta- 

 ble litter alone) are most liable to this disaster : but 

 the very wet rich manure (No. 2,) heaped in cold 

 weather suffered but little, and much less than the 

 very poor but dryer and more open heap. No. 3. 



4. Manure v/ijl ferment in our coldest weather, 

 and therefore we lose time by wailing for the be- 

 ginning of spring to construct our heaps, and 

 cause damage by the increased violence of fermen- 

 tation. 



5. We need not fear, by using the greatest 

 quantity of vegetable matter to make our manure 

 too poor to ferment properly and in good time. 



6. If enough water had been introduced previ- 

 ously. No. 3 might have been heaped by January 

 1st — and the second littering also before the win- 

 ter was over. 



7. The fermentation of all the heaps would have 

 been more complete, and probably without farther 

 waste, if they had been left undisturbed until just 

 before planting corn. But this was one of the 

 many cases in which convenience directed more 

 than reasoning. If the carrying out had been de- 

 layed until the manures were in the best state for 

 use, the occurrence of wet weather and the pres- 

 sure of other farm labors, might have prevented 

 the application being made early enough for the 

 crop of corn. 



The weather through the winter was generally 

 milder than usual, but there were three short ex- 

 cessively cold spells. The last of these was after 

 the beginning of planting corn, and on the morn- 

 ing of March 30th, the earth was too hard frozen 

 to plough. 



The effects on manures of the important and 

 mysterious process of fermentation, will never be 

 understood until cliemists shall undertake the in- 



