Meade County news. [volume] (Meade, Kan.) 1900-1918, 1900-11-22
Losses in Manure.

A good deal of science and knowl-
edge is required to prevent manure
from losing large proportion Of its
valuable properties. 1t used to be
supposed that manure could lie for
years and accumulate and still retain
all its virtue. The same erroneous
opinion is still held in some parts of
the Old World, notably in China and
its neighboring countries and in
Belgium in Europe. 1t has all along
been known that horse manure was
rendered valueless by ''fre-fanging,'
that is, burning up with its heat gen.
Grated by fermentation. But it was
supposed that drying manure did not
cause it to lose any of its value, and
for long time dust was advocated
as an absorbent in the barn and in
the poultry house as well as in earth
closets The dust that had been used
in these places was then used on the
garden, and if the gardener did not
get good results from his work in the
garden he laid it to something else
than the poverty of the manure.
Then along came the chemist and
to find just how much fertilizing ma
terial it did contain. The results gave
him shock. After having been used
as an absorbent in a dry-earth closet
and remaining for months in posi-
ton where it should have been filled
with all kinds of fertiliZing material
the dust was found to be as sterile
and as valueless as before use. If it
had been taken from the road it would
have shown as great fertilizing con-
tents. The theorists went to work on
the results of the chemist and decided
that the dry earth had the power of
burning up completely all the faces
that came into it just so long as the
amount of moisture contained was not
great enough to make moist the whole
mass. They said that as long as the
proportion of dust used was in excess
of the moist matter the deposits
would be chemically burned up. This
theory is without doubt true. 1t
points a moral for the farmer. If he
permits the use of absorbentS in his
poultry house or his stable he should
see that the amount is not so great
Moisture seems to be a requisite for
the preservation of the valuable por-
lions of the manure. The same thing
applies to the manure that is permit
ted to dry out either in the barn-yard
or in the field.
We have seen manure hauled out
in the early summer and left in the
field in piles all summer. We have
seen this manure become so dry that
Jumps would fall off ard roll about
on the ground where they became lis
hard as so much wood, but good deal
lighter with the escape of the mois-
ture. The farmer in many cases evil
IDENTIFY imagines that all of the fer
tility in the lump still remains and
that only the moisture has escaped
He is mistaken. Not only has the
moisture gone, but the chemical action
of air and water combined with the
action of heat has taken away almost
all that was Of value. In other words
fertility is not an absolute quality
but is rather a condition under which
things exist. Absolute fertility may
exist in the heart of rock. but it can
be of no benefit to man.
On the other hand too much mois-
ture also destroys the fertility in mat
ter. In Belgium it is believed that
great deal Of fertility exists in the
matter in cesspools, though that mat
ter may have been accommodating for
months. The chemist again has dem
onstrated to advanced thinkers that
where matter has remained in a dilut-
ed state for long time it undergoes
processes OF fermentation and other
changes that destroy the fertility. The
faces and like matter might be made
valuable, but it would have to be by
using an absorbent such as cut straw
or muck or peat in sufficient quantities
to make mass Of some density and
that would remain moist without be-
ing saturated. Even then it should be |
taken out and used before too long a |
time has elapsed. Doubtless half Of |
the fertility produced on most of our |
farms is lost by unscientific handling. |