Composts

Composts are a kind of Manure (q.v.), consisting of mixtures of substances adapted to the fertilisation of the soil, which being allowed to ferment, and undergo chemical changes for a considerable time in heaps, become more valuable than they were at first, or ever could have been if applied separately. Composts were formerly made of farm-yard manure, and earth or lime in addition. Road-scrapings, peat-moss, leaves, and clearings of ditches also formed materials for the purpose. By allowing these to lie for six months in heaps of from three to four feet in depth, food was prepared for plants. The mass was usually applied to the turnip-crop, and when artificial manures were unknown, considerable benefit arose from such dressings. The use of guano and other light manures has superseded in a great measure the necessity of this laborious process, and composts for the turnips or barley-crops are now little used. The wonderful effects that have resulted from the application of small doses of artificial manures have impressed farmers in general with the truth that the most energetic elements bear a small proportion in weight to the whole mass of farm-yard dung or composts, and that the mixing of manures in heaps with earth does not so much add to its virtues as to repay the labour expended in the process. More care is now rightly bestowed in preserving manure from washings by rain. Composts formed of leaves, ditch-scourings, road-scrapings, or any earthy substance containing a large percentage of vegetable matter, with the addition of lime, may still be used with benefit for pastures that are deteriorating, or where the soil is stiff. Indeed there should still be a compost-heap at every farm. Wherever tidy and careful management prevails, there is a good deal of road-scrapings, ditch-scourings, and other rubbish to be disposed of, and the compost-heap is a handy and useful receptacle for all such matter. The value of well-made compost for the top-dressing of pasture-land is greater than is generally understood or acknowledged, and it can be carted out and spread at odd times when there is a lull in the more urgent farm-work. Where moss prevails, lime should enter largely as a component. On the other hand, where the soil is of a strong and clayey nature, earthy substances containing vegetable matter in larger proportions should be used. Vegetable matter has the effect of imparting a softness to the surface that is particularly conducive to the free growth of pastures. Compost made of turf, leaves, earth, and bone-dust is used with great benefit by gardeners for vines and fruit-trees which are injured by too concentrated manures.