How to Build
Locate the manure pit handy to the barn and so as to catch the manure from the outside floors. Two pits may be better than one. Excavate the hole to the desired size and depth. (Manure pits are seldom over 4 feet deep.) Dig a sump hole 3 feet square and 2 feet deep at one corner of the pit. Slope the floor toward this hole, from which a pump will draw the liquid manure. Frame forms of 1-inch siding on 2 by 4-inch studding spaced 2 feet, so as to mold a wall 8 inches thick. If the dirt sides stand firm, they will serve for the outside form and nothing but an inside form will be required. Mix the concrete 1: 2: 4 ([see page 11]). Lay the floor so that it will be one solid piece 6 inches thick. No contraction joints will be necessary. Without delay, set up the forms, brace them firmly and fill them with concrete as directed under [Dipping Vats], pages 76-80. If a very large pit is needed, build it with sloping concrete ends sufficiently wide to accommodate a manure spreader. Let the inclines be gentle, and, to give the horses a firm footing, embed iron cleats every 18 inches in the slopes, the same as for dipping tanks. Cisterns for liquid manure only, may be made like ordinary [Cisterns], page 68. However, the solid manure rots more quickly and is better for the fields if both solids and liquids are kept in the same pit. An ordinary pump, with a pipe leading to the sump hole, covered with a grating, is a convenient means of removing the liquid. Liquid manure is especially good for the vegetable and flower garden, since it contains no weed seed. Cover the pits or keep the manure well soaked with water, so as to remove the principal breeding places of the house and barn fly.
The [manure pit shown in the photograph] is located in the side of a little hill. It is 21 feet long, 14 feet wide, 10 feet deep on the hillside and 6 feet deep on the low side. The bottom is 6 inches and the walls 8 inches thick. Four men built the pit in two days.
| Materials Required | ||
|---|---|---|
| Screened gravel or crushed rock | 17 cubic yards at $1.10 | $18.70 |
| Sand | 8½ cubic yards at $1.00 | 8.50 |
| Portland cement | 30 barrels at $2.50 | 75.00 |
| $102.20 | ||