Question

Distinguish between farmyard manure and compost manure.

Answer 1

Farmyard manure is animal faeces that have been permitted to age to the point where it is no longer stinky. It is used primarily as a nitrogen fertilizer. Compost is a mélange of fresh leaves, grass clippings, vegetable scraps, eggshells and other non-meat trimmings. They are layered in a pile, alternating a layer of scraps with a layer of dried leaves and shredded straw (1 part clippings and scraps to 2 parts dried materials). The pile is moistened, and with periodic spading to aerate it, rots down into a sweet-smelling, humus-like substance that is either spread over the surface of a garden plot to serve as a nutritious mulch or dug into the plot to the depth of about a foot.