30 AGRICULTURE. [CH. 



run from manure heaps. These usually contain 

 humate and ulmate of ammonia. This drainage is 

 black and often offensive; but it is not in any way 

 pungent, and the reason of this is, that the am- 

 monia is not present as carbonate of am- 

 monia. 



53. The successful fermentation of the manure heap 

 is very largely dependent upon the temperature at 

 which it is allowed to proceed. The chief con- 

 dition of success is to avoid loss. If the ammonia 

 formed in the heap be allowed to take the form of a 

 carbonate of ammonia, and pass away into 

 the air, the work is a failure by reason of the most 

 valuable portion having been lost. If on the 

 other hand the fermentation be so controlled that 

 the ammonia is preserved, then we may fairly 

 consider the management a success. 



54. The temperature may be easily regulated by a 

 judicious use of water. The manure should be 

 kept moist without being drenched, and the soakage 

 from the manure should be used for this purpose. 

 You may naturally* enquire how you are to know when 

 the manure requires more water ? If on moving any 

 portion you find any pungent smell of ammonia, be 

 satisfied that it requires to be moistened ; or if you 

 find the manure dry or having a mildewed appearance, 

 you may know that it should have been moistened 

 long before then. A want of care in this respect 

 involves great losses every year, for the ammonia 

 lost is our most expensive manure. Many farmers 

 waste it by sending it into the air, and then go to 

 market and buy some more at ^100 per ton. 



55. You must also understand that there is another 

 way in which this ammonia is lost, and that is, by 

 allowing too much water to fall upon it, and wash 

 out the black matter already referred to, and this too 

 often runs into the roads and ditches, and is lost. 

 Farm-yard manure is thus seriously injured, from 



