SOME HINTS 
about the making of COMPOST in gardens. 
The compost heap is the saving bank of the owner of a 
small garden, giving him at the same time the only chance to make 
his own good agricultural manure.- 
Compost is a fertiliser of garden mould and nutritive cub— 
stances combined; i.e. it supplies the soil with bacteria ana at 
the same time with food for same and furthermore a number of easely 
assimilable vegetabilic nutritious substances such as nitrogen, 
phosphoric acid, potash and lime.- 
O ne sho uld know., b.ow to jnake_jpompost__ nro ~£G rly. 11 wi 11 not 
do simply throwing together waste materials, such as refuse, gar¬ 
bage, leavings etc. and then let them lie a year or longer. On the 
contrary, one has to proceed in a manner that such substances will 
be quickly disintegrated by bacteria. To do so they require air and 
humidity; furthermore a very careful mixing of all components is 
essential and last not least, nutritious substances for the bacteria. 
Hence: humic matter, water, nutritious substances, and air 
all well mixed with earth are essential components of a good compost 
heap.- 
Humic matter we get by placing all kinds of waste matter 
on the compost heap; weeds from flower beds and walks, grass from 
cut lawns, leaves, straw waste, kitchen leavings of all kinds, every¬ 
thing is carefully collected, nothing thrown away. Another very im¬ 
portant producer of humus is G-ranulatea Pea t Moss . It amply supplies 
humic nourishment and also in other respects is very important for 
the compost heap. 10% of the compost heap ought to consist of peat 
mull.- 
Water is the second necessary requirement; without it no 
life is possible. Just during the summer season, when the growth of 
bacteria .is fastest, rain coming from above is not sufficient. So 
we have to sprinkle water on the compost heap from time to time, 
and by carefully shading it prevents itsgetting too dry. Here again 
peat mull renders most excellent service by absorbing a lot of water 
and holding it like a sponge. Peat moss will hold 10-15 times its 
own weight of water. Well soaked and placed on the compost heap it 
will hold water for a long time thus offering most favorable condi¬ 
tions for the rank growth of bacteria.- 
Nutri tive s ubstances were mentioned as third requirement 
for the proper composT heap'. This sounds odd, the compost itself! 
having the task to collect and transform such substances. We must • 
however bear in mind that bacteria are plants and only do function 
when meeting with nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash and lime in 
soluble form. If this does not happen, then the rotting or disinte¬ 
grating process will take a long time, some 2-3 years. Stimulating 
however life with nutritious substances will materially accelerate 
this process, especially if everything is thoroughly mixed: then 
in half a year the compost heap will be ready for -use. _ p _ 
