Sheviis 3:3-4

Sheviis 3:3

One may place three heaps of manure per beis seah in his field (a beis seah being a plot of land 2,500 square cubits in area). Rabbi Shimon (who permits more heaps) says that if one has more heaps, they must be arranged in a triangle (as opposed to in a straight line). The Sages only allow three heaps per beis seah unless he elevates one three handbreadths or lowers one three handbreadths (into a pit). One may gather all his manure into one giant heap; Rabbi Meir only permits this if he raises or lowers it three handbreadths. If one has only a little manure, he may continuously add to it; Rabbi Elazar ben Azariah only permits this if he raises or lowers the heap three handbreadths, or if he places the heap on a rock. (All of these conditions are to make it apparent that he is stockpiling manure for future use and not fertilizing his field in the sabbatical year.)

Sheviis 3:4

If one uses his field to graze cattle (with the result that it collects plenty of manure), he must set up an enclosure around two beis seah (5,000 square cubits). After filling it with manure, he removes three sides and places them to the other side of the one still standing (making the enclosure face the other way). This leaves him with a corral of four beis seah. Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says he makes a corral of eight beis seah. If his whole field is only four beis seah, he does not turn the whole thing into a corral; he leaves part of it unenclosed so people don’t get the misimpression that this is all being done in order to fertilize his field. He then takes some manure from the corral to the field as people normally do (i.e., making the piles of manure described in 3:3).