^ O. M. Scott & Sons Co., Marysville, Ohio 



THE COMPOST HEAP 

 A COMPOST heap is a necessary adjunct to every golf 

 -<^^course. This is a pile of various humus-forming and 

 fertilizing materials, spread in layers about six inches thick 

 and left to decay and to undergo chemical modification. It 

 may include in its composition almost any decomposing 

 vegetable matter, lime, inorganic fertilizers, earth, barn- 

 yard manure, peat, leaf-mold and sod. 



Composting is a valuable process, producing a humous 

 material very beneficial to the turf. If a good manure com- 

 post is used in spring and fall, nothing else may be found 

 necessary, except for the occasional application of nitrate 

 of soda or sulphate of ammonia as a quick stimulator. 



The pile should be built under cover if possible, the va- 

 rious materials being laid in alternating layers of four to 

 six inches. If peat is used, lime should be sprinkled in with 

 it to neutralize acids and to promote bacterial action. Barn- 

 yard manure is a necessary ingredient for the introduction 

 of bacteria. The pile is broken down vertically and thor- 

 oughly mixed several times during the composting period. 

 The compost is then sifted through a screen and the coarse 

 material saved for the next pile. 



The composting process should continue at least six 

 months before use. A year is better. Composting six months 

 will kill most of the common weed seeds, but a year will 

 dispose of all of them quite certainly. 



The character of the soil ingredient of the compost will 

 depend upon its use. If for sandy fairways, clay may be in- 

 corporated in as high proportion as 

 three parts of clay to one of organic 

 material. If for a sandy green the pro- 

 portion of clay should be reduced. Soil 



^.- -i_,^=..^w.-- 'is unnecessary in compost intended 



^/ :^^,,^ [34] 



