for ocmposting, but the minimum should be 5 foot 
square. The height, regardless of the square area, 
is 5 feet. The maximum width in the case of large 
heaps should be about 12 feet wide, otherwise air 
will not be able to penetrate the inside. The length 
can be almost any size, A good size for the aver- 
age small garden would be about 9 feet wide by 
12 feet long. 
MATERIALS USED IN HEAP 
It is best if you can accumulate a reserve of 
green waste materials to have on hand for the fu- 
ture. This may consist of leaves, weeds, grass clip- 
pings, corn stalks, sun-flower stalks, hedge-trim- 
mings, seaweed, spoiled hay and _ straw, kitchen 
wastes, chaff, and any other kind of plant material 
you can lay hold of. In.many cases you will find 
neighboring land growing wild in weeds. You 
can always get permission to cut it down. By do- 
ing so you not only obtain material for composting, 
but by cutting it down before the weeds go to 
seed, you prevent these seeds from blowing over 
your land. 
There is much material and by-products in the 
industrial life of cities and towns which yields valu- 
able organic matter for composting. Take your av- 
erage large market. In the fish department there 
accumulates much in the way of fish cuttings, en- 
trails, heads, etc., which is given away for the ask- 
ing. This may be used as a manure substitute in 
the compost heap. Brewerics give away what is 
called brewery waste, which consists of the hulls of 
grains used in making liquors, after the inside of 
the grains has been pressed out. This is valuable 
plant matoric!. In the vegetable department at 
groceries and at wholesale establishments there ac- 
cumulates large quantities of the green tops of 
vegetables, the danger here, however, is that much 
of this may have been treated with poison sprays 
in the field. | would go easy on this kind of ma- 
trial. 
In chicken markets, much organic material is 
thrown out or burned at the ctiy incinerator, con- 
sisting of the entrails, head, feet and feathers of 
chickens and cage scrapings, sawdust, etc., all of 
which is valuable as a substitute, if not an improve- 
ment upon manure. Near our farm which is only 
about 95 miles from New York City a considerable 
amount of trapping of small animals is carried out 
in hte winter. After the skins are taken off, the 
rest of the carcasses are dumped somewhere. This 
is very valuable material, if composted. It may lead 
to trouble if used on: the land in its raw state. An 
enterprising person will find available much other 
material if he keeps his eyes open. 
HOW TO MAKE THE HEAP 
There need be no fear of putting weeds in the 
compost heap, even if they are full of weed seeds, 
and are diseased. The heating, fermenting action 
of the heap kills the weed seeds and the harmful 
germs of disease. This is one reason why the use 
of raw manure is not advisable, except for the 
compost heap. It is usually full of weed ‘seeds. 
Another reason why the use of raw, uncomposted 
manure is bad is that it takes bacterial action in 
the ground to break down and to rot it. At a 
time when such bacteria are needed to aid in the 
47 
growing process of the crop, some of them are being 
used to break down this raw manure. This is poor 
military strategy, if we may compare the bacteria 
in the soil to an army. 
Start off by putting a layer of green material 
about six inches high on the ground, to the width 
and length that you have chosen for your heap. 
This first layer of withered green material or straw 
is placed on the ground. It is then followed by a 
layer, about 2 inches thick, either of manure or one 
of the substitutes such as fish or chicken cuttings or 
animal matter taken from your kitchen waste. In 
the case of more concentrated materials like chicken 
cuttings or other meat products the layer should be 
only 1 inch thick. You then apply a light sprinkling 
of lime or wood ashes. Be sure that it is agricul- 
tural lime and not the stronger lime which is re- 
ferred to as gypsum. The lime is needed to sweet- 
en the pile, alkalize it and to hasten decay. 
You may then apply a mere sprinkling not over 
one eighth of an inch of earth, preferably rich earth 
full of bacteria. 
Then you start the process all over again, placing 
6 inches of green material on top of the last layer 
of earth, then 2 inches of manure, lime and earth. 
You keep on until the heap reaches a height of 
five feet. Do not tamp it down as you make it but 
leave it soft and fluffy so that the air can get into 
the center of the heap. Keep watering it from time 
to time so that when it is finished it is damp but 
not too soggy. The right amount of moisture is 
very important. 
As you construct the heap, let it taper up, so 
that if it is 6 feet wide at the bottom it would be 
about 3% feet wide at the top. Also scoop out 
the center of the top, saucer fashion, so that the 
top of the heap will hold as much of the water as 
possible when it rains. The last layer of manure 
should be a little thicker than the others and the 
last layer of earth should also be much heavier 
and cover the sides as well as the top. 
If the weather is wet, you need not water the 
heap, but it is essential to do so when the weather 
is dry. Somewhat better results will be obtained 
if you cover the heap on top and sides with a straw 
mulch about 6 inches thick. This will prevent the 
top of the heap from drying out when the weather 
is hot and dry. It will allow the spray of water to 
reach the heap more uniformly. Without this mulch 
be careful that you use a fine spray of water on 
the heap. If you can obtain rain water or water 
from a pond for spraying so much the better. 
When the heap is finished make three holes in 
the top to allow air to get to difreent parts of the 
heap. They should be 5 or 6 inches in diameter and 
should run from the top to the bottom of the heap 
in the center of the width of the top. These holes 
can be made by inserting a crowbar in the heap, 
a day or two after the heap was completed be- 
cause by that time the height will naturally come 
down from five to about two and a half feet. It 
will thus be much easier to make the holes. A 
better method is to insert pipes as you are making 
the heap and to pull them out when it is completed. 
We use this method on our farm. It produces big, 
