Managing the Manure 57 



to dry out. Sometimes the addition of a little hen 

 manure to one part of the pile will start the heat- 

 ing. If the weather is cold and fermentation does 

 not begin, wetting a part of the pile with hot water 

 may start it. 



The first fermentation is nearly always irregular ; 

 that is, it begins unequally in several places in the 

 pile. In order to make the fermentation uniform, the 

 pile may be turned occasionally, taking care to break 

 up all hard lumps and to distribute the hot manure 

 throughout the mass. It is sometimes necessary to 

 turn the pile five or six times before it is finally used, 

 although half this number of turnings is ordinarily 

 sufficient. When the pile is steaming uniformly 

 throughout, it is fit to be placed in the hotbed. 

 From the first piling of the manure until it is fit to 

 put in the bed will be a period, ordinarily, of two 

 weeks. 



There are some cases in which the material will not 

 need to be turned to induce fermentation, particularly 

 when the manure is from 'grain -fed horses, as in many 

 parts of the country. Sometimes the manure heats so 

 quickly and so violently that it has to be wet in order 

 to prevent it from burning, although the admixture 

 of straw or litter with the manure will remedy the 

 trouble. Each case is a law unto itself. 



Making the manure bed. Hotbed frames are some- 

 times set on top of the pile of fermenting manure, as 

 shown in Fig. 13. The manure should extend for 

 some distance beyond the edges of the frame ; other- 

 wise the frame will become too cold about the out- 



