nia.

The effects produced by frequently watering the compost is one of the
greatest advantages of this system.

The soluble portions of the manure are equally diffused through every
part of the heap.

Should the heat of fermentation be too great, the watering will reduce
it.

When the compost is saturated with water, the air is driven out; and, as
the water subsides, _fresh_ air enters and takes its place. This fresh
air contains oxygen, which assists in the decomposition of the manure.

In short, the watering does all the work of forking over by hand much
better and much more cheaply.

[Why will the ammonia of manure thus made, not escape if it be
used as a top dressing?

What are the advantages of preparing manures in this manner?

What is the profit attending it?]

At the end of a month or more, this compost will be ready for use. The
layers in the manure will have disappeared, the whole mass having become
of a uniform character, highly fertilizing, and ready to be immediately
used by plants.

It may be applied to the soil, either as a top-dressing, or otherwise,
without fear of loss, as the muck will retain all of the gases which
would otherwise evaporate.

The cost and trouble of the foregoing system of composting are trifling
compared with its advantages. The quantity of the manure is much
increased, and its quality improved. The health of the animals is
secured by the retention of those gases, which, when allowed to escape,
render impure the air which they have to breathe.

The cleanliness of the stable and yard is much advanced as the effete
matters, which would otherwise litter them, are carefully removed to the
compost.

As an instance of the profit of composting, it may be stated that Prof.
Mapes has decomposed ninety-two cords of swamp muck, with four hundred
bushels of the lime and salt mixture, and then composted it with eight
cords of _fresh_ horse dung, making one hundred cords of manure fully
equal to the same amount of stable-manure alone, which has lain one
year exposed to the weather. Indeed one cord of muck well decomposed,
and containing the chlorine lime and soda of four bushels of the
mixture, is of itself equal in value to the same amount of manure which
has lain in an open barn-yard during the heat and rain of one season,
and is then applied to the land in a _raw_ or undecomposed state.

[In what other manners may muck be used in the preservation of
manures?

How may liqui