Any hard, woody materials—­Howard called them “refractory”—­must be thoroughly broken up before composting, otherwise the fermentation would not be vigorous, rapid, and uniform throughout the process.  This mechanical softening up was cleverly accomplished without power equipment by spreading tough crop wastes like cereal straw or pigeon pea and cotton stalks out over the farm roads, allowing cartwheels, the oxens’ hooves, and foot traffic to break them up.

Decomposition must be rapid and aerobic, but not too aerobic.  And not too hot.  Quite intentionally, Indore compost piles were not allowed to reach the highest temperatures that are possible.  During the first heating cycle, peak temperatures were about 140 degree.  After two weeks, when the first turn was made, temperatures had dropped to about 125 degree, and gradually declined from there.  Howard cleverly restricted the air supply and thermal mass so as to “bank the fires” of decomposition.  This moderation was his key to preventing loss of nitrogen.  Provisions were made to water the heaps as necessary, to turn them several times, and to use a novel system of mass inoculation with the proper fungi and bacteria.  I’ll shortly discuss each of these subjects in detail.  Howard was pleased that there was no need to accept nitrogen loss at any stage and that the reverse should happen.  Once the C/N had dropped sufficiently, the material was promptly incorporated into the soil where nitrate nitrogen will be best preserved.  But the soil is not capable of doing two jobs at once.  It can’t digest crude organic matter and simultaneously nitrify humus.  So compost must be finished and completely ripe when it was tilled in so that: 

“. . . there must be no serious competition between the last stages of decay of the compost and the work of the soil in growing the crop.  This is accomplished by carrying the manufacture of humus up to the point when nitrification is about to begin.  In this way the Chinese principle of dividing the growing of a crop into two separate processes—­(1) the preparation of the food materials outside the field, and (2) the actual growing of the crop-can be introduced into general agricultural practice.”

And because he actually lived on a farm, Howard especially emphasized that composting must be sanitary and odorless and that flies must not be allowed to breed in the compost or around the work cattle.  Country life can be quite idyllic—­without flies.

The Indore Compost Factory

At Indore, Howard built a covered, open-sided, compost-making factory that sheltered shallow pits, each 30 feet long by 14 feet wide by 2 feet deep with sloping sides.  The pits were sufficiently spaced to allow loaded carts to have access to all sides of any of them and a system of pipes brought water near every one.  The materials to be composted were all stored adjacent to the factory.  Howard’s work oxen were conveniently housed in the next building.