Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-01-31
TIE MANURE SUPPLY.
Some opiAions About How 1T Should
Ec Handled In Winter.


Some opiAions About How 1t Should
Rc Handled In Winter.
The harding Of manure in the win
ter and, indeed, at all times of the year
is so complex matter that conditions
that are best for one farmer mey be
the least satisfactory for anoiheR. In
deed, the losses which necessarily &C.
cur in the storing, in the handling and
in the application of manure to the
land are due to so many causes and the
expenses which must necessarily be
incurred to prevent them are often so
large that every farmer must use good
judgment in determining for himself
the line of practice which on the whole
will give him the largest returns from
his manure and the least cost. Where
considerable number of animals are
cared for by permanent help and the
climatic conditions favor it the moving
of the manure directly to the field as
it is taken from tie stable involves the
least expense, so far as labor is con-
cerned, in placing the manure where it
is to be used. The losses, however,
which are associated with this method
Of handling may under some conditions
be too large to regard it as an economic
practice, while under other conditions
it may be as little as it is likely to be
under any practical available method.
If the lands are level and the winter
and spring rains are not excessive,
there is likely to be little loss by leach
ing and washing.
The fermentation during the winter
is likely to be small, so that conditions
seem favorable for the following of
this practice where conveniences and
soil conditions permit of it. Where the
manure cannot be moved to the field
directly so as to be used in the early
spring it is doubtful whether there is a
better method of storing it in the yard
than that used in Europe to a consider
able extent, known as the manure mid
den, which consists Of low stone rel :; e., u
three to four or five feet high suitably
located with reference to the stables
and provided with open driyeways
through the opposite walls, into which
the manure is thrown directly from the
stables and kept closely packed by al
lowing the animals to walk over it OF
hogs to work it.
p The Fundamental principle in the
storing of manure in this way is to ex-
clude the air from it as largely as pos
sible and especially to prevent the sur.
face from becoming so dry as to permit
the air to enter rapidly and deeply and
so hasten the fermentation. In some
climates such a hidden should have 4
roof, in others it is probably better tc
avoid the roof There should be mois
ture enough kept upon the manure
coming dry, and where the rainfalls
are not sufficient to produce teaching il
will be better as a rule to avoid the
roof so as to take advantage of the
fainfall to keep the manure in the
proper degree of saturation.
Where the manure can have depth
of two or more feet it will require fire.
quent and heavy rainfalls to oversatu
rate the manure, as the capacity fol
holding water is very large and the
rate of evaporation from the surface is
considerable. The function of the wal
is to avoid the tendency of the tramp
ing of the animals to break the manure
pile down and spread it over the sur
face of the yard. If stock is kept away
from the pile, then the wall may be dis
pensed with by simply stacking the
manure in close, compact heap will
vertical walls. But where stones arS
plenty it will be found more economical,
to adopt the European practice, which
gives the least possible surface for the
exposure of the manure to the air.
The working over of farmyard ma
nure for ordinary farming is unneces-
sary, or at least is not likely to increase
the value sufficiently to pay for the ex-
ira labor. Too much cannot be said
in favor of using sufficient organic mat
ter in the form of bedding completely
to absorb, not only all of the urine
from the stable, but to give body
enough to the manure in the yard to
hold the rains and prevent teaching
The value Of the bedding in increas-
ing the humus of the soil and in in
creasing the area over which the ma
nure can be economically applied in
the field is not sufficiently appreciated
especially by eastern farmers, where
there is so much tendency to depend
upon commercial fertilizers. If bed
ding is difficult to get, but marshes are
at hand, the use of an abundant allow
ance of peat as bedding or worked in
with the manure or both will be found
helpful both to the manure in prevent
ing the loss of nitrogen and increasing
the volume of it which can be applied
to the field. These are the opinions OF
F. Fl. King as given in Rural New
Yorker.