The Monte Vista journal., 1907-11-23
QUALITY OF MANURE.
Il 10 Greatly Affected by the Manner In
Which Il 10 Handled.

Wnteh u 10 NAnoIoos
One important factor IL the care
given the manure before 1t IL applied
to the land. The common way Of
throwing the manure out In pile to
be tramped In the mud by the stock
and leached away by the rains 10 pro-
ductive Of great loss Of plant food.
Besides. the fermentation In such =
pile is destructive of nitrogen and hu-
mus. The Cornell station showed that
horse manure thrown in an unshel.
tered pile lost In six summer months
~ per cent. Of its fertilizing elements.
The New Jersey station showed that
solid and liquid manure mixed lost BY
exposure in 10s days 81 per cent OF
its nitrogen and phosphoric acid each
and 81 per cent. Of Its potash. Such
care Is certainly wasteful and manure
kept under such conditions connot
give very large increased yields. At
the same time as the above expert
ment the Cornell station piled some
mixed manure 10 that fermentation
went on slowly. but the pile was not
sheltered from rain. Under such con-
dition the loss Of constituents was %
per cent. Another pile handled 10
that 1t dried without fermentation lost
practically nothing. Prof. Frear Of the
Pennsylvania station showed that It
was more economical by $3.50 per
head in q period OF six months to al.
low the manure from fattening steers
to accumulate under them for two
months at time than It was to clean
the stables daily and deposit in the
ordinary way. This saving does not
consider the labor involved In haul.
ing the manure. The practice Of al.
lowing the manure to accumulate for
. time IL practicable one for loose
stock II there be plenty Of bedding to
keep them clean and absorb the
liquids. The constant tramping keeps
the manure solid and fermentation
goes on slowly. However. when the
stock II taken Oh, the stable should
be cleaned at once and the manure
scattered. for there 10 soon . big loss
OF nitrogen In the form Of ammonia.
The ideal way OF handling manure
10 to remove It to the neld every day
and spread on the land. says the Farm.
ers' Review. In this way there 10
little loss BY Fermentation and what
substance 10 leached out BY rain u
washed into the soil where It 10 taken
up by the roots. or 10 chemically
combined with other minerals In the
soil. For this purpose there 10 no
better way than the using Of manure
spreader. II will hold usually an tAs
cleanings for . day aaA il soos cases
the cleanings Of two a. three days
may be thrown into the sprseAss aAA
then hauled out. Farmers evssywhsrs
have found tho spreader IN almost II.
dispensabls tool.
However. 1t IL not always coavsa-
lent to haul out and spread every day.
The ground IL frequently too soft to 60
on with . team and wagon. and oftsa
the field on which II 10 wished to apply
the manure u occupied BY q. crop.
Under such conditions II becomes nee
essary to store the manure for some
time. Few farmers will 90 to the
expense OF building . covered manure
pit with cement sides and bottom into
which the liquid and solid manure may
b kept solid and damp. but every one
could have . concavs area With CO
ment. or sti6 clay. bottom. from which
drainage would not take place. Into
this tho manure could b thrown In Q
rather deep pile. kept evenly s,rsad.
and packed down BY the tramping OF
loose animals or Otherwise. The
tramping would prevent rapid fermsn.
tatiou and the rains would keep the
pile sudsciently moist. II should b
said In this connection that IN effort
should b. made to save al the Liquids
By . liberal use Of bedding. The
liquids. weight for weight, are twice
- valuable - the solids. Whatever
method 10 rssorted 70 for storias. the
manure should b kept solid and damp
and should b hAuled 70 The Geld and
scattered - sooa ~ possible. It should
b scattered Ut ooce and not b Il
lowed TO lie In piles for Q week o.
even months. Il should b sproas
svsniy over the grouad and here agais
the spreadsr will come into good uso
METHOD OF oN9lllMo conn.