Crop Wastes
Crop wastes were protected from moisture, stored dry under cover
near the compost factory. Green materials were first withered in the
sun for a few days before storage. Refractory materials were spread
on the farm's roads and crushed by foot traffic and cart wheels
before stacking. All these forms of vegetation were thinly layered
as they were received so that the dry storage stacks became
thoroughly mixed. Care was taken to preserve the mixing by cutting
vertical slices out of the stacks when vegetation was taken to the
compost pits. Howard said the average C/N of this mixed vegetation
was about 33:1. Every compost heap made year-round was built with
this complex assortment of vegetation having the same properties and
the same C/N.
Special preliminary treatment was given to hard, woody materials
like sugarcane, millet stumps, wood shavings and waste paper. These
were first dumped into an empty compost pit, mixed with a little
soil, and kept moist until they softened. Or they might be soaked in
water for a few days and then added to the bedding under the work
cattle. Great care was taken when handling the cattle's bedding to
insure that no flies would breed in it.
Manure
Though crop wastes and urine-earth could be stored dry for later
use, manure, the key ingredient of Indore compost, had to be used
fresh. Fresh cow dung contains bacteria from the cow's rumen that is
essential to the rapid decomposition of cellulose and other dry
vegetation. Without their abundant presence composting would not
begin as rapidly nor proceed as surely.
Charging the Compost Pits
Every effort was made to fill a pit to the brim within one week. If
there wasn't enough material to fill an entire pit within one week,
then a portion of one pit would be filled to the top. To preserve
good aeration, every effort was made to avoid stepping on the
material while filling the pit. As mixtures of manure and bedding
were brought out from the cattle shed they were thinly layered atop
thin layers of mixed vegetation brought in from the dried reserves
heaped up adjacent to the compost factory. Each layer was thoroughly
wet down with a clay slurry made of three ingredients: water,
urine-earth, and actively decomposing material from an adjacent
compost pit that had been filled about two weeks earlier. This
insured that every particle within the heap was moist and was coated
with nitrogen-rich soil and the microorganisms of decomposition.
Today, we would call this practice "mass inoculation."
Pits Versus Heaps
India has two primary seasons. Most of the year is hot and dry while
the monsoon rains come from dune through September. During the
monsoon, so much water falls so continuously that the earth becomes
completely saturated. Even though the pits were under a roof, they
would fill with water during this period. So in the monsoon, compost
was made in low heaps atop the ground. Compared to the huge pits,
their dimensions were smaller than you would expect: 7 x 7 feet at
the top, 8 x 8 feet at the base and no more than 2 feet high. When
the rains started, any compost being completed in pits was
transferred to above-ground heaps when it was turned.
Howard was accomplishing several things by using shallow pits or low
but very broad heaps. One, thermal masses were reduced so
temperatures could not reach the ultimate extremes possible while
composting. The pits were better than heaps because air flow was
further reduced, slowing down the fermentation, while their
shallowness still permitted sufficient aeration. There were enough
covered pits to start a new heap every week.
<table><tbody><tr><td>
Temperature Range in
Normal Pit </td><td> </td></tr><tr><td><table><tbody><tr><td>Age in days</td><td>Temperature in °C</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>63</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>60</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>58</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>55</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>53</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>49</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>49</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>First Turn</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>49</td></tr><tr><td>20</td><td>51</td></tr><tr><td>22</td><td>48</td></tr><tr><td>24</td><td>47</td></tr><tr><td>29</td><td>46</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>Second Turn</td></tr><tr><td>37</td><td>49</td></tr><tr><td>38</td><td>45</td></tr><tr><td>40</td><td>40</td></tr><tr><td>43</td><td>39</td></tr><tr><td>57</td><td>39</td></tr><tr><td> </td><td>Third Turn</td></tr><tr><td>61</td><td>41</td></tr><tr><td>66</td><td>39</td></tr><tr><td>76</td><td>38</td></tr><tr><td>82</td><td>36</td></tr><tr><td>90</td><td>33</td></tr></tbody></table></td><td><table><caption>Period in days for each fall of 5i C</caption><tbody><tr><td>Temperature Range</td><td>No. of Days</td></tr><tr><td>65°-60°</td><td>4</td></tr><tr><td>60°-55°</td><td>7</td></tr><tr><td>55°-50°</td><td>1</td></tr><tr><td>50°-45°</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>45°-40°</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>40°-35°</td><td>44</td></tr><tr><td>35°-30°</td><td>14</td></tr><tr><td>
Total </td><td>97 days</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>
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