"If well pressed down and merely moist, the manure will not burn and, moreover, there will be no tendency for a sour fermentation to become established. In from fifteen to twenty-one days, depending upon the conditions, the temperature will begin to fall, the violence of decomposition will begin to show a subsidence, and the compost will be ready for the construction of the beds. The bacteria of rapid decay will become less and less abundant, and finally, when the beds are prepared as subsequently described, the spawn will be able to grow in spite of the bacteria present."