116 OF FERTILIZERS. 



immediately under the stable or cow-house. And care 

 should be taken that no portion, liquid or solid, should be 

 lost. If it be left exposed to the open air, and suffered 

 to be drenched by rain, or parched up by the sun, a great 

 quantity of the products of its decomposition will be vola 

 tilized or washed away. There is danger also of its heat 

 ing, from the process of decomposition which immediately 

 begins, especially in the cellar under the stable for horses. 

 The temperature should not be permitted to exceed 100 

 of Fahrenheit, and if a smell of ammonia be perceived, it 

 is a proof that the valuable products of its decomposition 

 are wasting ; and means must be immediately employed 

 to fix them, that is, make them combine with something 

 else, and thus prevent their loss. 



383. This can be done by watering the manure heap 

 with dilute sulphuric acid, or a solution of copperas, 

 (sulphate of iron,) or by sprinkling plaster over it, when 

 the odor of ammonia will immediately disappear. In a 

 cellar, however, where the liquid manure is as carefully 

 saved as the solid, and into which a stream of water may 

 be directed by a spout from the gutter under the eaves, 

 there will seldom be danger of heating, and a little fresh 

 garden soil or loam thrown in may produce all the most 

 important effects of the chemical substances. 



384. By Decomposition is meant a change among the 

 elements of a compound substance and their union in 

 other forms. This takes place in consequence of the 

 attraction which the elements have for the oxygen of the 

 air and of water. The vital principle counteracts this 

 jit inn-lion. In an egg, for example, as long as there is 

 life in il, the contents remain unchanged and are ready 

 to be \vaki-d up into a living creature. But as soon as 

 the life is gone, decomposition begins, the sulphur and 



