History of Compost Making

The first "written" account of compost making is on a set of cuniforme tablets carved during the reign of King Sargon during the Akkadian Dynasty, which lasted about 160 years between 2320 BC and 2120 BC.

Akkade, which was located somewhere in the Fertile Crescent in Mesopotamia, in the area which is now modern day Iraq, is an area surrounded by mountains and deserts. The Akkadian Empire eventually perished, but subsequent empires maintained the act of composting in this fertile area.

Self-proclaimed King Sargon was born to a high priestess on the Euphrates and, like Moses 1,000 years later, was put in a basket sealed with bitumin, and floated down the river. He was found by a humble man, a gardener, who taught Sargon his trade.

Sargon eventually became a cupbearer to the ruler of the City of Kish and later conquered the lands around him and became King over all of southern Mesopotamia.

As Sargon says of himself:

Sargon, the mighty king, king of Agade, am I.
MY mother was a changeling, my father I knew not.
The brother(s) of my father loved the hills.
My city is Azupiranu, which is situated on the banks of the Euphrates.
My changeling mother conceived me, in secret she bore me.
She set me in a basket of rushes, with bitumen she sealed
My lid.
She cast me into the river which rose not (over) me,
The river bore me up and carried me to Akki, the
drawer of water.
Akki, the drawer of water lifted me out as he dipped his
e[w]er.
Akki, the drawer of water, [took me] as his son
(and) reared me.
Akki, the drawer of water, appointed me as his gardener,
While I was a gardener, Ishtar granted me (her) love,
And for four and [ ... ] years I exercised kingship,
The black-headed [people] I ruled, I gov[erned];
Mighty [moun]tains with chip-axes of bronze I con-
quered. . .

(From: George A. Barton, Archaeology and The Bible, 3rd Ed., (Philadelphia: American Sunday-School Union, 1920), p. 310.
Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton. Prof. Arkenberg has modernized the text.
[Ancient Near Eastern Texts 119]

The Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans all practiced compost making and, in 50 BC, Cleopatra is reported to have made worms sacred after observing their composting abilities.

The first recorded compost "recipe" was developed by a Roman Statesman, scientist and farmer named Marcus Cato over 2000 years ago. His system was the first recorded use of vermicomposting, which is composting using worms that eat the composting materials and turn them into castings, which are wonderful for soil conditioning.

In his work, ORGANIC CHEMISTRY IN ITS APPLICATION TO AGRICULTURE AND PHYSIOLOGY, published in 1840 by German Chemist Justus von Liebig, it was commonly thought that plants actually ate humus for their nutrients. His work disproved the theory by the demonstraton that plants could absorb nutrients from chemicals placed in solution and, since humus was not water soluble, this disproved the humus theory.

This led to the belief that all that was necessary to aid plant growth was the addition of chemical solutions. And so the practice of using chemical fertilizers on crops instead of compost began.

As a result, farmlands suffered massive erosion, insect infestations as the insects became resistant to the toxic pesticides, ground water and surface water became contaminated and there was a decline in soil and plant health.

One hundred years later, in 1940, Sir Albert Howard, a British government agronomist, published his groundbreaking research, AN AGRICULTURAL TESTAMENT, which became the new rule for organic farming.

Sir Albert, considered the father of modern organic compost making, worked in India for 29 years, from 1905 until 1934. He combined his scientific knowledge with his observations of the methods used by the local farmers, to develop a method of compost making called the Indore method, named after the town of Indore.

This method, based on mixing three parts of green refuse with one part of farm manure, is composed of simple layers - the first layer was weeds and leaves, then a smaller layer of manure, covered by a thin layer of topsoil. These layers were repeated until the heap was about 1.5 meters tall, it was kept moist, and turned often to keep it aerated. The resulting compost was ready for the garden in about three months, and ensured soil fertility and greater crop sizes with the crops having a better nutrient value.

Many people still use this compost making method, prefering to have an open compost pile in their yard, which they turn with a pitchfork, rather than having a compost bin or one of the many types of compost tumblers.

Also available to modern composters are the compost crocks and compost pails they can keep in their kitchens to save their kitchen compost until it's time to take it outdoors to their compost system.

Whatever method someone uses, it's good for the environment, saves space in the landfills, and greatly benefits their gardens.