92 



Experiments have demonstrated that dry straw will ab- 

 sorb frequently more than twice its weight of water, while 

 dry peat and muck are almost perfect absorbents and at 

 the same time add very greatly to the fertilizing value of 

 the manure. 



Dry straw contains only from one-half to three quarters 

 of a per cent, of nitrogen and considerably less of potash 

 and phosphoric acid, so that it's presence in a state of ad- 

 mixture with the manure does not add materially to the 

 fertilizing value of the latter. 



Straw and similar materials, however, in addition to their 

 utility as absorbents, serve to decrease the compactness 

 of manure, to check and regulate fermentation and in many 

 cases promote chemical action in the manure. / 



The decomposed and disintegrated straw or litter will 

 also supply humus to the soil, a not unimportant consider- 

 ation in the case of many of our soils, which are almost 

 destitute of organic matter. 



The preservation of stable manures is a subject to which 

 too much importance cannot be attached and their value 

 is frequently much diminished by reason of the careless 

 exposure to which they are subjected. Frequently manure 

 heaps are left in an unprotected condition, under the eaves 

 of barns and stables, and the leaching, which takes place 

 with each rain fall, causes a considerable proportion of the 

 fertilizing constituents to be washed out and lost. 



Exposure to wind and variable conditions of weather also 

 causes a loss, by reason of the escape of some of its con- 

 stituents, particularly ammonia, in a gaseous form. 



Carefully conducted experiments at the Cornell Experi- 

 ment station have demonstrated that the reckless exposure 

 of loose manure heaps to wind and weather may cause a loss 

 of as much as 42 per cent, of its original fertilizing value 

 during a period of only six months. 



