MANURE. 21 



or other absorbent, about one foot in thickness, which will 

 catch and i-etain any fertilizing material that may leach through 

 the pile. If practicable, the pile should be made where it will 

 be protected from the sun and drying winds. The height of 

 the pile should depend somewhat on the kind of manure and 

 the season of the year when it is made. Manure that will heat 

 readily should be piled about six feet deep. When the pile is 

 quite warm the manure should be turned over. This operation 

 should be performed very thoroughly as often as the pile gets 

 very hot. All the lumps should be broken up and the whole 

 pile turned to the bottom of the Ded on which it is placed. The 

 absorbents of the bed should be mixed evenly throughout the 

 pile and the cold manure from the outside be put on the inside 

 of the pile so that it may heat the more rapidly. If the pile ap- 

 pears dry on the inside water or, what is better, the urine 

 from the stable should be added to assist fermentation, as this 

 cannot take place satisfactorily in dry manure, and the lack of 

 water may result in serious loss. The number of times a ma- 

 nure pile should be turned over will depend on the crop to 

 which it is to be applied and the kind and condition of the 

 manure. This is a matter which must be left to the good 

 judgment of the individual manager, but some of the factors 

 bearing on this will be found discussed farther on. 



The Compost Heap can be made a prolific source of home 

 made manure. Every farm and garden should have one of 

 sufficiently large proportion to take care of all refuse organic 

 material about the place. It should be made about as follows: 

 Select a place handy to get at but where there is no standng 

 water and put down first a bed one foot deep of old sods or 

 muck and on this pile all the refuse material as it collects in 

 various places. It may consist of old. straw, leaves, an occa- 

 sional load of heating manure, rotten vegetables, etc. This 

 should be turned over occasionally, by hand if necessary, but 

 the best plan is to have the compost heap in a hog yard and 

 to it haul manure as it collects near the stables. If manure 

 is piled upon a good bed of rotten sod it will not lose much 

 by leaching, nor will it lose anything by heating if a sufficient 

 number of hogs have the run of it to keep it well worked up. 



Commercial Manures. — By commercial manures is meant 



