CHAPTER VI 
THE MANURE HEAP AND SEWAGE 
CONTENTS OF THE MANURE HEAP 
The value of the manure heap is recognized by every farmer. 
So thoroughly is this appreciated that, in some countries, the 
wealth of the farmer is measured by the size of his manure heap, 
which is commonly exposed prominently in front of his house. 
Everywhere one may measure quite accurately the thrift of a 
farmer by an examination of this somewhat unsavory product of 
farm life, and the extent of his intelligence may likewise be gauged 
by the care he bestows upon it. We can readily understand its 
importance when we remember that in this manure heap are going 
on, in a condensed space, exactly the transformations of food 
material which we have been considering. 
The manure heap is always an extremely complex mixture 
of organic substances, of nearly every conceivable kind. It con- 
tains great quantities of partly broken-down vegetable tissues, which 
have passed through the alimentary canal of the cattle, partly 
digested. It will contain large or small amounts of hay or straw 
derived from bedding and from the incompletely digested food, 
especially if horses contribute to its formation. It may contain 
sawdust or some other form of woody tissue. It will be likely to 
contain more or less flesh and bone from dead animals, and will be 
sure to contain proteids, albuminoids, gelatins, fats, sugars, starches, 
and, indeed, nearly all types of organic matter produced by animals 
or plants, all of which will be in various stages of digestion and 
decomposition. Lastly, and perhaps most important, it will 
contain much nitrogen in the form of urea, in the liquid manure, 
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