THE SOIL AND ITS IMPROVEMENT. 105 



that is, if he takes care of the manure. The treatment of the 

 manure makes a great difference in its value. There are three 

 sources of loss : 



First Leakage. Many farmers make little attempt to save 

 the liquid manure. By reference to the tables given further on 

 in this chapter, it will be seen that one ton of horse urine is 

 worth about as much as ten tons of solid manure from cattle. It 

 will thus be readily understood that the quality of the manure 

 will be greatly depreciated if the liquid is allowed to escape and 

 only the solid saved. 



Second Leaching. Much of the plant food in manure is in 

 insoluble forms, but there is a portion that can very readily be 

 washed out. Therefore, if the manure pile is kept where so 

 much water will fall on it that it will leach through it, great 

 loss will be incurred. Whenever the farmer sees a stream of 

 dark-brown liquid draining from his manure pile, he may be sure 

 that much of the richness of his farm is leaking away. The 

 better the quality of the manure the more it is likely to be 

 injured by leaching, as the more soluble matter it will contain. 



Third Heating. When manure is thrown into a pile it soon 

 grows warm, and decomposition commences. If the manure is 

 sufficiently wet to prevent this process from being too rapid or 

 going too far, the manure will be benefited and no loss be 

 incurred; but, if it proceeds so rapidly that the pile gets dry 

 inside and the smell of ammonia is perceptible, the farmer may 

 know that one of the most valuable substances (nitrogen) is 

 escaping. 



Fermentation of Manure. Barn-yard manure, we have 

 seen, consists of a large bulk of material containing a small 

 amount of certain valuable substances. The composition of a 

 ton of average fresh barn-yard manure is about as follows : 



Water, 1,420 Ibs. 



Carbonaceous matter, etc., ..... 556.4 " 



Nitrogen, 9 " 



Phosphoric acid, . . . . . . 4.2 " 



Potash, 10.4 " 



Total, 2,000 " 



