MANAGEMENT OF MANURE. 201 



that this useful fertilizer should be wasted in the manner 

 in which it now is, and the vast quantity of plant food in it 

 .should be worse than thrown away. China sustains a pop- 

 ulation now 8 times as large as that of the United States, 

 and supports all its vast consumption by its owfi products; 

 and yet without any fertilizers but those derived from the 

 night soil, which is carefully preserved for this use by 

 mixture with earth. 



The excrements of the sheep furnishes a manure second 

 only to that of the horse, and is highly valued by the best 

 farmers, especially for the production of grain. The feed- 

 ing of sheep is, on this account, made a special business 

 upon grain farms where their manure, and the profit from 

 their flesh and wool, are found to be exceedingly desirable 

 and satisfactory. 



The value of stable manure depreciates by the length of 

 time during which it is kept and by exposure to the weath- 

 er. The loss sustained in keeping manure in open yards 

 for 3 months is fully one-half; partly by washing by the 

 rains, and partly by the escape of the ammonia evolved 

 during the decomposition. The values above given are 

 those of the best preserved manure, and the farmer who 

 wishes to realize these values must take measures to so keep 

 his manure, as to preserve all its fertilizing qualities. This 

 is easily done by putting it in flat heaps which will gather 

 the rain that falls upon it, and no more, and to control the 

 heat of the fermentation by turning it over before the heat 

 becomes injurious. Overheated manure is of little value; 

 but overheating will rarely occur when all the manure of va- 

 rious kinds are regularly mixed together and kept in a com- 

 pact heap, flat on the top, to receive the rain. The liq- 

 uid manure should be carefully saved by the use of absorb- 

 ents, of which dried swamp muck is the best, or by tight 

 drains through which it is carried to an underground cis- 

 tern in which the solid manure is kept to absorb it. The 

 escape of ammonia is easily prevented by the free use of 

 powdered gypsum scattered on the stable floors and about 

 the yards, and through the manure heaps. 



