The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1907-11-07
QUALITY OF MANURE.
IL 70 Greatly Affected by the Manner In
Which u Is Handled.

One important factor In the care
given the manure before 1t Is applied
to the land. The common way OF
throwing the manure out In a pile to
be tramped In the mud by the stock
and leached away by the rains is pro-
ductive of great loss of plant food.
Besides, the fermentation in such a
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.
AZ per cent. of its fertilizing elements.
'rhe New Jersey station showed that
solid and liquid manure mixed lost by
exposure In 109 days 81 per cent. OF
its nitrogen and phosphoric acid each
and 81 per cent. OF its potash. Such
care is certainly wasteful aud manure
kept under such conditions connot
give very large increased yields. At
the same time as the above expert.
inent the Cornell station piled some
mixed manure so that fermentation
went on slowly. but the pile was not
sheltered from rain. Under such con-
dition the loss of constituents was 90
per cent Another pile handled so
that II dried without fermentation lost
practically nothing. Prof Frear OF the
Pennsylvania station showed that II
was more economical by $3.50 per
head In period OF six months to al.
low the manure from fattening steers
to accumulate under them for two
months at a time than II 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 foI
| time 10 q practicable one for loose
stock II there be plenty Of bedding tc
keep them clean and absorb the
liquids. The constant trampins keeps
the manure solid and fermentation
goes on slowly. However. when the
stock 10 taken Oh. the stable should
be cleaned at once and the manure
scattered. for there is soon . big los,
Of nitrogen In the form OF ammonia.
The ideal way Of handling manure
Is to remove It to the field every da,
and spread on the land. says the Farm
ers' Review. In this way there Il
little loss by fermentation and wha
substance is Ieached out by rain I,
washed into the soil where II Is takeI
up by the roots. or 10 chemical!
combined with other minerals In thu
soil. For this purpose there is NJ
better way than the using Of q manure
spreader. n will hold usually all th'
cleanings for q day and In some case
the cleanings OF two or three day
may he thrown into the spreader ant
then hauled out. Farmers everywher,
have found the spreader an almost In
dispensable tool.
However. 1t Is not always conven
lent to haul out and spread every day
The ground is frequently too soft to g
on with a team and wagon. and oftel
the field on which 1t is wished to appl
the manure Is occupied by croI
Under such conditions 1t becomes nee
essary to store the manure for som
time. Few farmers will go to tn
expense of building a covered manur
pit with cement sides and bottom int
which the liquid and solid manure ma
be kept solid and damp, but every on
could have a concave area with cs
ment. or stiff clay. bottom. from whic
drainage would not take place. Int
this the manure could be thrown In
rather deep pile. kept evenly spreat
and packed down by the tramping @
loose animals or otherwise. TIL
tramping would prevent rapid fermer
tation and the rains would keep tn
pile sufficiently moist. II should b
said In this connection that an effor
should be made to save all the liquid
by liberal use OF bedding. tn
liquids. weight for weight. are twic
as valuable as the solids. Whateve
method In resorted to for storing, tn
manure should be kept solid and dam
and should he hauled to the field an
scattered as soon as possible. II shoul
be scattered at once and not be a
lowed to lie In piles for a week O
even months II should be sprea
evenly over the ground and here agai
the spreader will come into good us,