9 6 



THE ESSENTIALS OF AGRICULTURE 



106. Care of manure. For general use manure is never better 

 than when fresh ; therefore the ideal method of handling it 

 is to apply it to the fields without allowing it to stand. Unfor- 

 tunately this is not always practicable. Since the introduction 

 of the manure spreader (Fig. 42), however, this method is 

 coming into much more general use. In some parts of the 

 country the feeding of animals directly on the fields is a method 

 which accomplishes the same end. 



Where manure cannot be directly applied to the fields, care 

 should be taken to store it properly. 1 The prime essentials in 



FIG. 42. A manure spreader soon pays for itself on a stock farm 



storing manure are first, that it be kept either under cover or 

 in a water-tight pit, to prevent the loss from leaching by the 

 rain ; and second, that it be kept compact and moist so that 

 fermentation is retarded. 



The use of a manure pit with a water-tight bottom, in which 

 manure can be stored, is common in some regions. In this 

 case the manure should be tramped in so as to exclude the 

 air as completely as possible. If the manure contains plenty 



1 In densely populated regions, for hygienic reasons it may be desirable to 

 treat manure with potassium or phosphate salts (which are unfavorable to the 

 growth of disease-carrying organisms, such as the larvae of flies) or to keep 

 the manure in fly-tight containers, such as concrete manure boxes. 



