72 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



under their feet, to lie in a compact condition until about the time it 

 is used. 



The Treatment and Application of Farm Manures to 



THE Soil. 



The questions most commonly asked in regard to how to treat 

 and use farm manures, are : 



(1) Is it better to ferment manure or apply it gi-een? and 



(2) When it is applied, is top dressing, or working manure into 

 the soil, the better method? 



In answering the first inquiiy, let us first consider the differences 

 between rotted manure and "gi-een" manure. 



When the excrements first come from the animal the manurial in- 

 gredients, especially' in the undigested portions or solids, exist in 

 the same form that the}' did in the plant. Now, one plant, unless 

 parisitic, cannot teed upon the material that exists in another until 

 such material has undergone certain changes. In order that the in- 

 gredients contained in vegetable fabric maj' become plant food, a 

 decomposition or combination must take place. The phosphoric acid 

 needs to be liberated from its organic combinations, and the nitro- 

 genous substances in the vegetable material must be broken down 

 so that the nitrogen can be converted into ammonia and nitric acid. 

 Now, when manure is rotted there occurs a partial, and to a certain 

 extent a complete breaking down of the vegetable compounds in the 

 excrements, and an additional decomposition of the substances in 

 the urine, which are chiefl}' the result of a previous partial breaking 

 down of the albuminoids in the animal. 



While but little ammonia and nitric acid may be formed in fer- 

 mented manure, the decomposition that has taken place has carried 

 the valuable ingredients of the fresh excrements quite a long dis- 

 tance in the direction of the forms into which the^' must finall}' come 

 in order to serve the purposes of the plant. Consequently-, rotted 

 manure can more quickly produce a vigorous effect upon growing 

 crops than that which is fresh. Farmers recognize this fact when 

 they put well rotted manure under a hill of corn instead of gi*eeu. 



But the question of the availability of the plant food in stable 

 manure at the time it enters the soil is not the only one that must 

 be considered. It is essential for us to know whether, in fermenting 

 manure, or in making its nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash more 



