132 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. 



Investigations on manure at Lauchstadt, 1896-1897, M. 



Maercker and W. Schneidewind (Lanchc. Jahrb., 27 (1898), No. 

 1-2, pp. 215-240, pis. 3). — These include (1) studies of the loss of nitro- 

 gen from manure in deep stalls and in open and covered manure heaps, 

 and (2) experiments with preservatives. 



Three experiments with deep-stall manure are reported, two with 

 manure from cattle and one with manure from sheep. The first experi- 

 ment with cattle was made with 12 animals and lasted for 136 days 

 (June It; to October 29, 1896). In the second experiment 14 steers 

 were used and the experiment lasted from November 6, 1896, to May 

 21, 1897 (197 days i. The experiment with sheep was made with four 

 lots of 15 animals each and lasted from June 20, 1896, to January 14, 

 1897. The stalls used in these experiments were 0.65 meter deep and 

 had impervious cement bottoms. 



Parallel with the experiments on deep-stall manure under cattle, 

 studies were made of the losses of nitrogen from open and covered 

 heaps of manure from animals fed the same kinds and amounts of food 

 and supplied with the same amount of litter as in the deep-stall experi- 

 ments. Samples of manure for analysis were taken daily. Not only 

 the total nitrogen, but also the albuminoid, amid, ammoniacal, and 

 nitric nitrogen were determined. 



In the experiments with preservatives the manure from 9 cows dur- 

 ing a period of 11 days was divided each day into four lots which were 

 sampled for analysis and packed separately in pits. Lot 1 received no 

 preservative; lot 2 received 30 per cent of marl containing 13 per cent 

 of carbonate of lime; lot 3, 30 per cent of marl and 2 per cent of peat; 

 lot 4, 6 per cent of sodium bisulphate, corresponding to 1.5 per cent of 

 free sulphuric acid. The total albuminoid, amid, ammoniacal, and 

 nitric nitrogen in the fresh manure and in the manure after remaining 

 in the pits three months were determined. 



The results of the experiments show that the loss of nitrogen in deep 

 stalls was small when the manure was examined immediately after the 

 animals were removed from the stalls, being in one case 13.2 per cent 

 and in another 13.25 per cent of the total nitrogen. This was true 

 whether the experiments were conducted in winter or in summer. The 

 loss, however, increased to 34.8 per cent when the manure was allowed 

 to remain four weeks during warm weather after the animals had been 

 removed from the stalls. If the manure, therefore, can not be carried 

 to the field immediately after the removal of the animals it should be 

 covered with soil or treated with a preservative. 



In an ordinary uncovered manure heap the loss of nitrogen was 37.4 

 per cent. In a covered heap it was very little less, being 36.9 per cent. 

 This slight difference in the loss in the two cases is thought to have 

 been due to the fact that the weather conditions were especially favor- 

 able to the preservation of manure in the uncovered heap, being wet 

 and cloudy, while the manure in the covered heap was allowed to 



