The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-07-26
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The Compost Heap. :

y Ss& The Compost Heap. -
In the first place let US have clear
understanding of what compostis. The
word literally signifies "a putting togeth-
er," and no word could better express the
idea. A compost is compromising. OF
such elements of plant food as will best
serve to render land fertile. Agood cook
brings his food on to the table so COM
pounded with fat and lean, so seasoned
with salt and pepper, and so prepared for
easy assimilation that the very smell
stimulates the appetite and the stomach
finds no trouble in its digestion. What
the cook does for the food of man the
farmer should do for the food of his
plants. Compost such elements of nutri-
ton as will best nourish vegetation, and
let them lie together and cook during the
warm weather, as they will by the heatgen-
Grated internally by oxidation, favored by
thegenial condition of the air. The COM
post heap may be likened to loaf fofbread,
in which little leaven has leavened the
whole lump, converting by chemical
process unpalatable doug h into sweet
food. a
The simplest form of vegetation re-
quires at least dozen elements for its
perfect development. Hence compost
properly prepared is the true idea of
plant food. It is nonsense to suppose
that because the potato is potash plant
it can live on potash alone. ALL plants
and animals must die unless furnished
with food compounded of dozen or more
elements. Not that every fertilizer must
be such a compound, for many, generally
most, of the elements of plant food
abound in the soil and air, and it may
only be necessary to supply those that are
lacking in order to render soil fertile.
This leads us to inquire of what the
compost heaps should be made. The
answer to this question must depend
somewhat on the condition of the soil
and the nature of the crop to which it is
applied. If the soil is naturally full of
vegetable matter and inclined to be cold,
it would be folly to make muck the basis
loan would be much preferable. On
the other hand, if the compost is to be
applied to sandy soil, muck is just the
thing for its basis. In like manner if the
compost is to be used for nitrogenous
crop, cabbages for instance, ammonia in
some form should be prominent COM
ponent part. In general it may be said
that phosphate Of lime, ammonia and
potash are the constituents most likely
to be found wanting in our long cult.
vated fields, and most essential to plant
growth. These therefore should enter
largely into the compost heap. Other
constituents should be added as the soil
demand, ,or opportunity is furnished TO
supply them. Among these we may
mention chloride of sodium, common
salt) and sulphuric acid, which can most
economically be applied in the form Of
sulphate of lime, (plaster.) All the in
organic elements of vegetation may be
found in ashes. We therefore put upon
our compost all the ashes, leached or
unleached, upon. which We can lay our
hands.
These constituents of the compost
placed in juxtaposition and being mixed
and covered with some absorbent, such
as muck, earth, or leaf mould, heat up by
chemical action, are,decomposed and re-
Ecomposed-in other words are cooked,
forming new compounds which are read
lily assimilated by plants. The muck
and leaf mould are also hastened in their
decomposition by the influences of the
decomposing mass, the whole forms
food which plants devour greedily.
But where shall we get the phosphate
of lime, the ammonia, and other constit-
uents of the compost heapp is the next
very proper question of the farmer.
Bones are the great resource for the phos.
phate of lime. These are lying around
every slaughter house, every lanyard and
almost every farm in the country, dried
by the sun and air, and consequently
slowly decaying. Let them be gathered
and broken up by sledge hammer if
there. is no mill convenient for grinding
them, or they bespnt into large hogsheads
with alternate layers of wood ashes and
kept constantly moist for a few months
during warm weather, when they will be
found sufficiently softened to be cut with
a sharp spade. In this condition put
into a fermenting compost they will fur
ther disintegrate and add greatly to the
value of the pile.
The next constituent of the compost
heap is ammonia, and this may be found
in barnyard manure, night soil, dead
leaves, and dead animals of all kinds,
the refuse of the tannery, the wooden or
paper mill, the slaughter house, the cess
pool, and divers other places too numer-
Gus to be mentioned. Precious as ammo
MIA is, there is probably no substance
which is more wasted. 1t is going off to
the sea in our sewers by thousands of
tons each day. The rivers which pass
our manufacturing establishments and
dense villages are full of it, so much so
as to be sources of miasma during the
warm and dry months. There is no lack
of ammonia, if farmers will only keep
vigilant eye for lit. In fact, they may
shut their eyes and their noses will tell
where ammonia abounds. Ten chances
to one they can smell it ascending from
their .horse-stables, barn-yards, privies,
and cesspools, to be waited over others
lands, upon which it will descend with
the dews and rains. Our advice to farm
.ers is to look sharp for ammonia on their
ownplaces first, and when they have ex-
hausted this resource 60 to the village,
where night soil will be given them for
the hauling, or to the woollen factory,
where waste shoddy, or to the paper mill,
where the waste sizing, can be had; both
these articles abounding with ammonia,
and both well calculated to heat up the
compost heap and set the whole in fer
mentation. Living near village, as we
do, our great resource for ammonia is
night sol, and there can be nothing bet
ter. Dead animals is another great re-
source; and it is wonderful what an
amount of these village will furnish if
the farmer will only let it be known that
he has a golgotha where they may be
buried. There is no trouble in finding
ammonia if we only search for it.
Potash is not so easily found. When