The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1907-11-06
QUALITY OF MANURE.
It 10 Greatly Affected by the Manner In
Which u 10 Handled.


Which Il 10 Handled.
One important factor is the care
given the manure before II 10 applied
to the land. The common way OF
throwing the manure out in q pile to
be tramped In the mud ~ the stock
and leached away by the rains is pro-
ductive of great loss OF plant food.
Besides, the fermentation In such .
pile is destructive Of nitrogen and hui
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 100 days 81 por 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 soma
mixed manure 30 that fermentation
went ON slowly. but the pile was not
sheltered from rain. Under such CON
dition the loss of constituents was ga
per cent. Another pile handled SO
that It dried without fermentation lost
practically nothing. Prof. Frear Of the
Pennsylvania station showed that It
was more economical by $3.50 per
head in a period of six months to al
low the manure from fattening steers
to accumulate under them for two
months at a time than 1t 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
q time Is a 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 is taken OF. the stable should
be cleaned at once and the manure
scattered. for there Is soon big loss
CT nitrogen in the form of ammonia.
The ideal way Of handling manure
il to remove It to the field every day
and spread on the land, says the Farm
ers' Review. In this way there IL
little loss by fermentation and what
substance is leached out by rain IL
washed into the soil where It is taken
up by the roots. or Is chemically
combined with other minerals In the
soil. For this purpose there 10 no
better way than the using Of manure
spreader. 1t will hold usually all the
cleanings for day and in some cases
the cleanings Of two or three days
may be thrown into the spreader and
then hauled out. Farmers everywhere
have found the spreader an almost In
dispensable tool.
However. It IL not always conven-
lent to haul out and spread every day.
The ground IL frequently too soft to 90
on with team and wagon. and often
the field on which It is wished to apply
the manure is occupied by . crop.
Under such conditions 1t becomes nee.
essary to store the manure for some
time. Few farmers will go to the
expense of building covered manure
pit with cement sides and bottom into
which the liquid and solid manure may
be kept solid and damp. but every one
could have q concave area with ce-
ment. or stth clay. bottom, from which
drainage would not take place. Into
this the manure could be thrown in .
rather deep pile. kept evenly spread.
and packed down by the tramping Of
loose animals or otherwise. The
tramping would prevent rapid fermen-
tation and the rains would. keep the
pile sufficiently moist It should be
said in this connection that an effort
should be made to save all the liquids
by . liberal use Of bedding. The
liquids. weight for weight are twice
~ valuable IS the solids. Whatever
method is resorted to for storing. the
manure should be kept solid and damp
and should be hauled to tho field and
scattered as soon A. possible. II should
be scattered at once and not Be A.
lowed to lie in piles for . week or
even months. It.. should be spread
evenly over the ground and here again
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