39 



The greatest reduction in moisture level, 11.01?, was in treatment 

 block 4-A, where no chips were added and manure was tilled 3 times per 

 week. This treatment area also had the highest moisture level when the 

 experiment began and third highest when the experiment ended. The final 

 moisture level of treatment block A-A was approaching 60? which is the 

 minimum level that flies prefer to use for breeding purposes (Miller 

 et al., 197M. 



Moisture levels of treatments 1-B (without chips), A-B (without 

 chips), 1-A (without chips), and 3 - B (with chips) were all reduced to 

 near 60? or below 60? by the use of different tilling schedules (Figure 

 17). The moisture level of treatment 2-A (with chips) dropped to below 

 the 60? level during the treatment period with no tilling at all. The 

 moisture level of 53.30? in treatment 3~A (with chips) was well below 

 the 60? level when the experiment began and dropped to 44.70? when the 

 experiment ended. Figure 18 shows manure in 3~B at the end of the 9 _ 

 week experiment. 



When the experiment was terminated, the manure in all treatment 

 areas except ^-A, ^-B, and 1-B maintained good form after tilling. The 

 manure in the three above-mentioned areas appeared quite wet even though 

 the moisture levels were just above 60?. 



In treatment areas that were not tilled, a crust had formed on the 

 manure in most places. In wet areas, this kept moisture in and pre- 

 vented further drying. Pockets of house fly larvae were not noted in 

 these areas during the course of the experiment. 



Arriving at more accurate manure moisture levels was limited by the 

 number of samples that could be processed by our laboratory. Only two 

 samples could be taken from each treatment area every week. Eight 



