The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-09-27

ment must be simple and involve as little
labor and expense as possible The re-
cent studies of scientific men on farm ma
nures have been very largely directed to
the very desirable practical end of sim
plifying methods of management and pres
ervation.
Since the direct fertilizing value of ma
nure depends so largely upon the nitrogen
which it contains, the more important of
these Investigations have taken into con-
sideration mainly the availability
changes, and causes and prevention of loss
OF this substance. 1t has been shown that
there is a wide difference between the fer
tlzlng value of the nitrogen of the sold
and liquid parts of the manure The eff
fectVeness of the former has been found
IN experiments to be only 10 per cent of
that OF nitrate of soda, while the latter
was over 80 per cent, being Very nearly
equal to that of sulphate of ammonia. The
nitrogen of the sold excrement becomes
available very slowly in the soil or in the
heap while that of the urine is in solu-
BILE form, rapidly converted into ammonia
which may escape into the air. Expert
ments are recorded which indicate that
the effectiveness of the nitrogen of the
solid excrement is not materially increas-
ed by mixing it with the liquid part, the
nitrogen of such a mixture being decided
ly less available than that of either nj
trate of soda, suiphate of ammonia, or
green manures. The conversion of the nj
trogen of the urine into ammonia, more
over, is apparently hastened by the ad-
mixture of solid excrement and straw.
The changes which manure undergoes
which it brings about In the soil, and
which so largely determine it's fertilizing
value, are mainly the work of micro-or-
ganisms beings which, like the coral-reef
builders, are significant individually, but
VTnf fiYAlxr Ia
rapidity, and are thus able to accomplish
startling results. The micro-o organisms
are on hand to begin their work as soon as
the manure is voided; in fact, it is claimed
that many of them come from the stom-
ach of the animal along with the manure.
At any rate, the air and the litter of the
stable swarm with them, and the odor of
ammonia which pervades the air very soon
after the eXcrement is voded is evidence
that they commence their work promptly.
These organisms are of various kinds
Some require air Cor OXYGEN in order to
grow; others flourish only in the absence
of oxygen. Most of them injuriousy af-
feet the quality of the manure, but some
may be made beneficial. The management
| of manure becomes thus largely question
of controlling these minute, microscopic
beings which in practice can be recognized
only by their work.
The most effective means of checking the
| action of those organisms which require
oxygen for their growth is, of course, to
exclude the air. Experiments are record
ed in which it was found that they were
| capable of completely converting the nj
trogen or urine into ammonia, which es-
capped in the air. in twenty-four hours
when air was freely admitted, but that the
escape of ammonia was almost entirely
prevented by excluding the air, although
the nitrogen was still largely converted
iVntN 10 he me-
course, occur in the solid excrement, but
much more slowly. In one experiment
mixtures of dung and litter which were
| exposed to the action of the air were found
to lose as high as II per cent. of the nj
trogen which they contained in about
seven months. In other experiments in
which a current Of air was drawn through
the manure the loss was over 40 per cent.
1t is due to the beneficial effect of ex
GLIDING the air that deep-stall manure has
been found so much more effective than
that which has been stored in ordinary
heaps Maercker an eminent German
investigator, has recently found in eXper
iments with oats than the nitrogen of
deep-stau sheep manure compared favor
ably with that of sulphate of ammonia
and nitrate of soda, while ordinary barn
yard manure under the same conditions
was either without effect or lowered the
yield.
The unsatisfactory results with the lat
ter were accounted for not only by the
fact that the manure had probably lost a
large part of its fertilizng value by the
previous treatment to which it had been
subjected, but also by the fact that the
manure, as well as the litter (straw, etc)
mixed with il contained peculiar micro
organisms known as Identifying organ
isms, which are capable of converting
available nitrogen into forms which are
of little or no use to the plant when the
manure is applied to the soil. 1t should
be stated, however, that in these expert
ments the manure was applied in much
larger amounts than is usual in practice,
and the denitrifying organisms were thus
distributed in the soil in sufficient amount
to work injury.