Florida Agricultural Experiment Station


becomes woody and lignified and has less of the easily decom-
posed carbohydrates than the green plant.
 Weeds, grass, straw, cornstalks, cane trash, peat, muck, leaves,
pine needles, Spanish moss gin waste, kitchen waste, crotalaria,
beggarweed, coffee bean, garbage, cannery refuse, water hya-
cinth, crop residues of any kind, stall bedding and strawy manure
are materials available and commonly used in Florida.
 The water hyacinth is one of the best materials available for
composting. It contains sufficient minerals for relatively com-
plete decomposition and can be obtained in a green and succulent
condition containing sufficient water to insure rapid decomposi-
tion. It has the disadvantage of considerable difficulty of har-
vesting but that is an engineering problem which may be solved.
 Peat and muck have been used extensively in compost and
when supplemented with other materials a highly satisfactory
product can be made. These materials have an additional value
in that they have a high absorptive capacity. However, it must
be remembered that these materials have already undergone
extensive decomposition and when allowed to dry out they are
wetted again only with difficulty. Peat containing 40 percent
moisture thoroughly mixed in a shredding machine with 5 to
10 gallons of molasses per ton and minerals will set up active
fermentation and after 3 weeks may be used. Peat may be
composted also with farmyard or poultry manure or with plant
materials.
 Pine needles may be composted (Fig. 3) but they do not de-
compose readily and ordinarily should be used only in conjunc-

 Fig. 3.-Composted pine needles.



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