Storing to Prevent Loss of Ammonia 355 



increased thereby. Similarly, the liquid manure should 

 not be applied in very warm weather, since the rapid 

 evaporation, under such circumstances, may lead to 

 appreciable losses of nitrogen. 



The temperature of the manure may be taken as a 

 convenient indication of the extent of oxidation processes 

 taking place in the heap. When the temperature of the 

 manure pile does not rise appreciably, the aerobic pro- 

 cesses are probably excluded, and the anaerobic processes 

 predominate. On the other hand, a marked rise in tem- 

 perature denotes active oxidation and corresponding 

 development of the aerobic bacteria. A measurement 

 of the temperature in the different portions of the 

 manure pile may serve as a simple and convenient means 

 for gauging the treatment the manure is to receive. 

 Should the temperature be found to rise beyond a given 

 limit, the necessity of compacting and of further additions 

 of moisture will be indicated. 



Preventing loss of ammonia. Recent investigations 

 have shown that the loss of ammonia from decomposing 

 manure may be greatly reduced by spreading the fresh 

 manure on a layer of older manure undergoing active 

 decomposition. It seems that the carbon dioxid gener- 

 ated in large quantities in the older manure prevents the 

 escape of the ammonia from the fresh portions without 

 inhibiting, at the same time, the development of the 

 bacteria. By proceeding in this way, the loss of nitrogen 

 was reduced in the experiments at Lauchstadt, Germany, 

 from 30.31 per cent to 16.94 per cent. The losses of 

 organic matter were Nearly the same. 



On the strength of these and other experiments, 



