FARM MANURES 



37 



Per cent, 

 of water 

 absorbed. 



Fine cut straw 30.0 



Coarse uncut straw iS.o 



Peat 60.0 



Sawdust 45.0 



Snyder says : "The proportion of absorbents in manure ranges 

 from a fifth to a third of the total weight of the manure." 



The following experiment shows the absorptive power of straw 

 and peat in two similar stables carrying the same stock, in one 

 of which straw was used and the other peat. 



Ammonia in Stable Per Million of Air.' 



4. The Kind of Manure. — Manure from different kinds of ani- 

 mals varies in value. 



Horse Manure. — The manure voided by the horse is rich in 

 nitrogen and not so finely divided as the nianure from cows, 

 sheep, etc. This is due to the horse only having one compart- 

 ment in its stomach and therefore the feed, especially coarse feed 

 as hay, etc., is less broken up and digested. Horse manure is 

 generally comparatively dry and hard to incorporate with bed- 

 ding. On this account, and because of its coarse nature and 

 chemical composition, fermentation readily sets in and consid- 

 erable nitrogen is lost unless the fermentation is stopped. When 

 fermentation is allowed to continue the value of horse manure 

 is very much decreased. Boussingault found by experiment that 

 when fermentation was allowed to continue, one-half of the nitro- 

 gen was lost from the fresh manure.* 



The liquid portion of horse manure contains a great deal more 

 nitrogen that the solid. The liquid portion of horse manure 

 contains very little phosphoric acid. 



Cow manure is much colder than horse manure and so a fine 

 combination results when it is mixed with horse manure; the 



' Hall, Fertilizers and Manures. 



