Food for If the process of fermentation has been well man- 

 Plants aged, both fresh and rotted manures contain the same 

 222 amounts of Nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash. 



T . There should be a sufficient amount 



of litter to absorb and retain the urine 

 and also the ammonia formed in the decomposition of 

 the manure. Leaves, straw, sawdust, moss, etc., to 

 which is added some peat, muck, or fine, dry, loamy 

 earth, mixed with gypsum (land plaster), may be used 

 for litter. The relative value of the manure is dim- 

 inished by the use of too much litter, but on the con- 

 trary, if insufficient absorbent material is used, too much 

 moisture prevents fermentation and the consequent 

 chemical changes in the nitrogenous constituents of 

 the manure. 



The best method for the manage- 



Management of t f f armyard man ure is to make 



Farm- Yard -, , . , 



Manure. an( * keep it under cover, in sheds, or 



better still, in covered pits from which 

 there can be no loss by drainage. It should also be 

 kept sufficiently moist, and by the addition of charcoal, 

 peat, or vegetable refuse and gypsum the volatilization 

 of ammonia may be reduced to a minimum. Manure 

 so made is worth 50 per cent, more than that thrown 

 into a heap in the barnyard to be leached by the storms 

 of months before being spread upon the land. 



Where pits cannot be provided the manure pile 

 should rest upon a hard, clay bottom, or on a thick 

 layer of peat or vegetable refuse, which acts as an 

 absorbent and prevents the loss of much liquid manure. 

 The time-honored custom of hauling manure upon 

 the land and of dumping it in small heaps from two 

 to three feet in height, is a wasteful and clumsy practice 

 that should be abandoned by every farmer. 



A simple and effectual way of dis- 

 posing of the night-soil on a farm is to 

 so construct the closet that the urine 

 will at once drain to a lower level, and there be mixed 

 with an equal quantity of quicklime. The solid ex- 

 crement should be covered daily with a small quantity 

 of quicklime mixed with a little fine charcoal or peat. 

 Such a receptacle can be made by any farmer at com- 



