St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1883-06-23
Farm-Yard Manure.

Farm-yard manure is a general ma
nure; it is also termed complete ma
nure because it supplies all the essential
elements of plant food. Its composition
varies according to the character of the
animals contributing to it, the quality of
their food and the nature and the pro-
portion of the litter. Its value also de-
ponds upon the method in which it has
been prepared.
Farm-yard manure consists of the
liquid and solid excrements of the farm
stock and the straw, sawdust or other
material employed as litter. 1t will
contain from IS to 80 per cent. of water.
The nitrogen may be 0.40 to 0.65 per
cent, or higher, if produced by highly
fed animals. The ash constituents will
be 2.5 to 80 per cent, exclusive of the
sand and earth present. Of these ash
constituents Oh to OF will be potash
and o. to Oh phosphoric acid. In a
word, one ton of farm-yard manure will
supply, according to conditions already
specified, from nine to fifteen pounds Of
nitrogen, a similar amount of potash and
from four to nine pounds of phosphoric
acid.
A consideration of some of the causes
that affect the quality of barn-Yard
manure may assist the inexperienced
farmer. An animal neither gaining nor
losing weight, as a working-horse, will
produce excrements containing about
the same amount of nitrogen and ash
constituents as was present in the food
consumed. IF, on the other hand, the
animal is increasing in size, is producing
young or furnishing milk or wool, the
nitrogen and ash constituents in the
excrements will be less than those con-
tanned in the food, the difference APP
pearing as animal increase. In a word,
the farmer will not obtain as rich ma
nure from COW in full milk, or from q
rapidly growing pig, as from his work
ing horse with the same food.
Even more than the character of the
animal does the character of the food
affect the quality of manure. A diet,
for instance, including a liberal amount
of oil-cake or beans, will yield manure
rich in nitrogen and ash constituents,
when a diet of maize and straw chaff
will producesa manure poor in nitrogen
and phosphates. The constituents of
food which are important as ingredients
of manure are the nitrogen and ash ele-
ments, but chiefly the nitrogen, this be-
ing the most costly ingredient of COM
mercial fertilizers. Oil-cakes yield the
richest manure. Next to these come the
leguminous seeds, mott dust, aid bran.
Clover hay yields richer manure than
the cereal grains, while meadow hay is
rated below these. The cereal grains
and the roots contain about the same
proportion of nitrogen in their dry sub
stance, but the roots supply more
potash. Potatoes stand below roots in
manurial value, and straw takes the
lowest place as a manure-yielding food.
Bean and pea straw are more valuable
for this purpose than the straw of the
cereals.
Many scientists and not a few farmers
believe that animal manure is more inn
mediatelv available for the use of plants
when applied directly to the land than
when previously mixed with a great
bulk of litter, as fermentation with litter
probably results in the formation of
heterogeneous humus compounds, which
are insoluble and decompose but slowly
in the soil. The use of litter in the
preparation of farm-yard manure is,
however, a necessity, especially in the
winter time.
Scientists, some of them at least,
assert that the immediate return from
an application of farm-yard manure is
much less than from the same amount of
plant food applied in artificial manures.
The effect of farm-yard manure,
however, is spread over a considerable
number Of years.
A most important point is the treat
ment Of manures. Serious losses occur
constantly through ignorance in this
matter. Bear in mind large proper
ton of the nitrogen is voided in the
form Of urine. If, therefore, the manure
is wasted, by rain, and the washings are
allowed to drain away, loss occurs. It
must also be recollected that the urea,
which forms the chief heterogeneous
ingredient of urine, is speedily changed
by fermentation into volatile substance
that escapes unless held by sufficient
amount Of litter. Farm-yard manure
rapidly undergoes fermentation and
large quantity Of carbonic acid is given
off When the fermentation occurs in a
place protected from rain, however, but
little loss of nitrogen takes place.-N.
Y. World.
A judge in St. Louis has discharged