340 Bacteria in Relation to Country Life 



is stored in well-compacted heaps, the initial fermen- 

 tations may be useful in preparing the organic matter 

 for more rapid decomposition in the soil. This will not 

 involve extensive and, at the same time, costly losses 

 of nitrogen. 



The same cannot be said of more prolonged and more 

 thorough decay of the stored manure when the latter 

 is to be employed in general farming. The reduction of 

 a very large heap of fresh manure to a very small heap 

 of well-rotted manure, for the purpose of accumulating 

 a material rich in nitrates, is scarcely an economical 

 procedure. When at all advisable, it should find favor 

 with the market-gardener rather than the general 

 farmer. 



Now and then conditions may arise such as to make 

 it expedient, even in general farming, (i. e., in connec- 

 tion with very light, dry soils), to allow the decompo- 

 sition of the organic matter and the nitrification of the 

 organic nitrogen to go on in the manure heap rather than 

 in the soil. Practical farmers have long been aware of 

 this fact. From what has been said in a preceding chap- 

 ter, it is evident that in the open, dry soils, the organic 

 matter may be burned up, just as it is burned up in the 

 earth closet, without the formation of nitrates and with 

 the evolution of nitrogen gas. 



Under such conditions, it is surely better to let the 

 manure decay in the yard, and to apply to the soil the 

 well-rotted material rich in nitrate. We may be certain, 

 then, that at least a portion of the nitrogen in the ma- 

 nure is thus placed at the disposal of the crops in a readily 

 available form. On the other hand, in the case of more 



