Cooperative Wokk with Columbia TTniveksity 433 



5. Keep it under cover and over a tight floor to prevent leach- 

 ing. If it must be kept outside, pile in large, compact heaps, so 

 built as to hold the rain that falls upon them. 



6. The spreading of manure is largely a matter of labor dis- 

 tribution. Spreading from small heaps is wasteful. Broad-cast- 

 ing from the wagon is better. The manure spreader is superior in 

 economy of labor and distribution. 



7. In general farm practice, frequent moderate applications are 

 more profitable than occasional large applications. 



8. In general, the sooner manure is applied to the land, the 

 more economical is the result ; but the time to spread is when 

 labor can be most economically employed at spreading. Spread 

 when convenient. 



Amount of Plant Food in Stable Manure 



Nitrogen 



Phosphoric acid 

 Potash 



5 TONS 



Pounds 

 50 

 25 

 50 



10 TONS 



Pounds 

 100 

 50 

 100 



15 TONS 



Pounds 

 150 



75 

 150 



20 TONS 



Pounds 

 200 

 100 

 200 



The chief deficiency of farm manure is its unbalanced charac- 

 ter. The addition of acid phosphate floats, or, in years of peace, 

 kainit, as a reinforcement is advisable. 



COMPOSITION OF COMMERCIAL, FERTILIZER 



Common fertilizers are mixtures of the common carriers ■ of 

 nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash that we have listed. Despite 

 the fertilizer laws, they still remain a great deal of a puzzle to 

 fanners. Even the well-informed fanuers cannot tell from the 

 guarantee what the source of nitrogen may be, and, as our listing 

 shows, the availability of the nitrogen in- the plant food carrier is, 

 perhaps, the most important thing we can know about it. 



