436 ANNUAL KErORT OF Till: OS. Doc. 



too, than would he coiilaiucd in throe tonsol" comniercial fertilizer 

 wLicli it would take at the average price per ton to rei)resent an 

 eijuivalent value. 



A Member: Might we ask how often the stable was cleaned? 



^fR. WALLACE: About once a month. 



M\{. IIUTCFIISON: Were the aniuuils allowed to be out in the 

 open or kept continually in the stable? 



MK. WALLACE: They were kci)l in the stalls and allowed to 

 run loose. 



Probably the mosi common i)ractice of handling manure when it 

 is removed from the stable is to ])ile it in an open barnyard. Here it 

 is allowed to remain all winter long exj)osed to the leaching effects 

 of rain and melting snow, and by the time it is ap])lied to the fields 

 in the spring about one-third of the nitrogen, jjhosjdiorus and potas- 

 sium originally i)resent, has been lost. This is not mere conjecture. 

 It has been proven by carefully conducted experiments that fully 

 one-third of all the fertilizing elements })resent in manure is lost 

 when the manure is exposed for a jieriod of three months in an o])en 

 yard, due to the agencies of fermentation and leaching. 



The i)ractice of drawing manure directly from the stable to the 

 field is probably the best method we can use in disposing of the 

 manure crop. Where this custom is followed but one handling is 

 necessary and the possibility of the losses occurring in open yard 

 storage is entirely avoided. This method of caring for manure is, 

 in fact, coming into somewhat general use, but it is not as general 

 as it should be, nor as it will be when farmers come to appreciate 

 fully the value of the practice. In cases where it is desired to remove 

 the manure from the stable once or twice a day, and where our live- 

 stock equipment is not sufficiently extensive to pr(»duce a spreader 

 load within this period, the manure shed becomes a necessary adjunct. 

 This need not be an expensive structure but it should in any case 

 be provided with a cement floor. Here the manure may be stored 

 until a sufficient (|uantity has accumulated to justify its removal to 

 the field; and by liaving the manure spread evenly over the floor of 

 the shed and keeping it well packed by allowing the animals to run 

 over it. no very serious losses are likely to occur. 



So far we have been discussing the care of manure in its natural 

 state only. We learn from a large number of chemical analyses, 

 however, that manure in itself is not a well balanced fertilizer for 

 our ordinary agricultural plants; that it is relatively high in nitro- 

 gen and potassium and correspondingly low in phosphorus. Experi- 

 ments have been conducted by the ex])eriment stations of Ohio, 

 Pennsylvania. Illinois and other states which demonstrate pretty 

 conclusively that the same element, phosphorus, is the one in which 

 most of our soils is deficient. With these facts before us, this ques- 

 tion naturally presents itself — "Why can we not, by taking proper 

 care of our manure, retain practically all of the expensive elements, 

 nitrogen and potassium, and by the artificial addition of some phos- 

 phatic material, thus supplying the lacking element, phosphorus, 

 thereby convert our manure into a well balanced and more efficient 

 fertilizer?" This question we have endeavored to answer at the Ohio 

 station by an ex])eriment which has now been in progress fourteen 

 years. The answer has been that such a practice can be followed 

 with very decided profit. 



