This was Maria's first time doing this—of course, the people she brought along wouldn't let her do it herself, so the actual work was handled by the two slaves while she only provided verbal guidance.

However, she had thoroughly researched the process beforehand, knowing that the soil used couldn't be too large or too fine and that the firewood used for ignition had to be dry. The soil covering the pile needed to be slightly damp, but not too dry because if it was too dry, it would burn too quickly and the resulting fertilizer would be ineffective. If it was too wet, the fire would easily go out, requiring...