r, and it will take a good deal of water
to well moisten a heap of dry manure. Then throw it into a compact
oblong pile about three or four feet high, and tread it down a little.
This is to prevent hasty and violent heating and "burning," for firmly
packed manure does not heat up so readily or whiten so quickly as does a
pile loosely thrown together. Leave it undisturbed until fermentation
has started briskly, which in early fall may be in two or three days,
or in winter in six to ten days, then turn it over again, shaking it up
thoroughly and loosely and keeping what was outside before inside now,
and what was inside before toward the outside now; and if there are any
unduly dry parts moisten them as you go along. Trim up the heap into the
same shape as you had before, and again tread it down firmly. This
compacting of the pile at every turning reduces the number of required
turnings. When hot manure is turned and thrown loosely into a pile it
regains its great heat so rapidly that it will need turning again within
twenty-four hours, in order to save it from burning, and all practical
men know that at every turning ammonia is wasted,--the most potent food
of the mushroom. We should therefore endeavor to get along with as few
turnings as possible; at the same time, never allow any part of the
manure to burn, even if we have to turn the heap every day. These
turnings should be continued until the manure has lost its tendency to
heat violently, and its hot, rank smell is gone,--usually in about three
weeks' time. If the manure, or any part of it, is too dry at any
turning, the dry part should be sprinkled with water and kept in the
middle of the heap. Plain water is what is generally used for moistening
the manure, but I sometimes use liquid from the stable tanks, which not
only answers the purpose of wetting the dry materials, but it also is a
powerful stimulant and welcome addition to the manure. But the greatest
vigilance should be observed to guard against overmoistening the manure;
far better fail on the side of dryness than on that of wetness.

If the manure is too wet to begin with it should be spread out thinly
and loosely and exposed to sun and wind, if practicable, to dry. Drying
by exposure in this way is not as enervating as "burning" in a hot
pile, and better have recourse to any method of drying the manure than
use it wet. If, on account of the weather or lack of convenience for
drying, the manure can not be