The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1899-09-14

THE MANURE QUESTION.

position of It's Chemistry.
In those portions Of the manure
which are accessible to the air one
class of bacteria 1--we and breed in
enormous numbers. They feed on the
oxygen Of the air and the heterogeneous
norton Of the manure and In their ex-
crements give of large quantities Of
nitrates, the latter being the direct
products of the oxidation Of nitroge-
nous organic matter anywhere, whether
In the bodies Of these bacteria or not.
These nitrates, being very soluble in
water, drain down into the interior of
the manure heap, just as they drain
through the soil. But instead OF all
going of In the drainage water and be-
coming lost, as they often do IN the
soil, they are chiefly lost by an entire
ly different process.
In the interior Of the heap, shut
away from the air, these nitrates fall
prey to another class OF bacteria
known as nitrate destroyers" They
completely undo the work Of the other
bacteria, or nitrate formers" The
''nitrate destroyers" live on the nom
pftrogenous constituents Of the straw
and leaves and the oxygen Of the
nitrates. This HbeFates the nitrogen
in the form Of gas. which escapes into
the air and Is lost to the farmer. The
process also consumes the nttrog-
enous portion, which Is chiefly the
remainder Of the litter. It Is formed
into water and carbonic acid gas,
which escape into the air and thus
diminish the bulk Of the pile. While
the nitrate formers i've near the
surface Of the manure and require air
for their work, the nitrate destroy
ers' live from the air and do not need
It. They are dependent, however, on
food Of q certain kind and must have
plenty Of II, otherwise they become tn
acttve and can do no damage, though
millions Of them may, exist inpthe In
tersor Of the manure pile. One Of their
PRINCIPAL foods, the nonnitrogenous
Inafe14al of the litter. they cannot use
q. mod, until Il has been made soluble
:ny D.; third ctass of bacteria, which
causes thu roeffns &c the hitter. Nitrates
are also indfspensabss Cor Their nour-
ashmHt Il, therefore, they are DE-
pE4ved of EITHER ooe Il thsse eonstttu-
'sn1s a. THEIR .d3ek they either die q
O. iaast beccme harmless. = - ~ ,,s. 4.
I Ehe work Of the nitrate fosmeu'
Il beoencial 31slcouveFts organic H.
hoesn9 tnso nitrata.a = most avaaIahis
form Of plant food.s Half rooted ma
nure contains nitrogen largely IN tnis
FORM The work, Of nitrate DESTROY
err - destructive. It removes tie
soluble uitrstss from The manure. { It
converts half rotted manure into ven
rotted manure. In this way the dine.-
emit effects produced by manure, In lii
three di6egNnt conditions are eKplAtp
ed The nitrogen In fresh manure b
fargelyo organic and not inmeditsly
available. 1t therefore has q slower
and less effect than half rotted ma
nure. The nitrogen in half rotted ma
nure 10 largely IN the form OF ,nitrates,
and this 10 available. The nitrogen Ia
well rotted manure has all been con-
verted into nitrate also and was once
available. but has subsequently bean
lost In the afr. This Is why the we'll
rotted condition IL the least valuable
Of the three. sz77s+i vTita
In handling manure the farmer
should strive to place It at the dispod-
ton Of the growing crop Just at that
moment when the most nitrate has
been formed and before any has been
destroyed. The most favorable condi-
lions are obtained when fresh manure
is packed as tightly as possible away
from the air and kept in that condition
till half rotted and then plowed under
just before planting or sowing Under
these circumstances, although the
third class Of bacteria have In the rot
ting of the litter made soluble food of
one kind for the nitrate destroyers,'
the latter have been deprived Of their
other necessary food, the nitrates, for
none could reformed in the tightly
packed mass, and they have remained
harmless. But the heap has become
half rotted without them. After the
manure is plowed In, the nitrogen
formers" now having plenty of air,
rapidly produce nitrates, which are be-
yond the reach of the destroyers; for
by this time all their soluble nonnitrog-
enous food has been decomposed and
has gone into the air, leaving them to
die. The growing plants in the mean
time absorb the nitrates.
If fresh manure is plowed in di-
rectly before seeding, poor result Is
obtained, for the nitrates are not
formed until after the plants have
passed their growing period, and they
consequently starve. AS might be
supposed, winter crops fare better
than spring crops with this proceeding
BY blowing in fresh manure several
months before seeding much better
result is obtained, because the nitrates
are on hand and are being formed al
the growing period Of the crops. Elk.
perience has abundantly proved that
1t is better to plow manure into the soil
and allow 1t to lie there rather than IL
the pile Whether 1t is better to leave
manure spread upon the surface Of
the land, rather than to plow 1t in OF
leave 1t in the pile, depends chiefly or
the amount Of loss caused by surface
drainage.
The foregoing paragraphs are ex