336 Bacteria in Relation to Country Life 



as in the case of other nitrogenous substances, losses 

 of nitrogen are thereby incurred. It is evident, therefore, 

 that, aside from actual losses of nitrogen, manure may 

 deteriorate on account of the changes just noted. 



In well-compacted manure, the conditions for the 

 conversion of soluble into insoluble nitrogen seem to be 

 more favorable than in loosely stored manure. This may 

 be accounted for by better moisture conditions and, 

 perhaps, also, by the different combinations of bacteria 

 developing in the interior of the heap. As is to be ex- 

 pected, large variations occur in the quantity of nitrogen- 

 ous material rendered insoluble under different con- 

 ditions. In some experiments, the amount of insoluble 

 nitrogenous substance was increased by 120 per cent, as 

 reported by Maercker and Schneidewind, in others, only 

 by 5 or 10 per cent. 



CONCLUSION 



It may thus be seen that, from the nitrogen stand- 

 point, there may be a more or less serious deterioration 

 in the quality of stored manure. This deterioration 

 is conditioned upon direct losses of nitrogen as ammonia 

 or as free nitrogen gas, and, also, upon the change of 

 available into unavailable compounds. It will be shown 

 later how these undesirable losses and transformations 

 may be controlled by chemical and mechanical means. 



