l82 



FARMYARD MANURE 



[chap. 



The litter has a twofold function : it absorbs the urine 

 and other liquid portions, and it provides both organic 

 matter and nitrogen for the resulting manure. The 

 cereal straws contain about 0-5 per cent, of nitrogen, 

 0-2 per cent, of phosphoric acid, and i-o per cent, of 

 potash, the variations in composition between individual 

 samples of any one kind of straw being as great as 

 the variation between average samples of wheat, oat, 

 and barley straw. Speaking generally, straw grown in 



the north of England and Scotland is richer than straw 

 grown in the south and east of England, because the 

 vegetative growth has been more prolonged and the 

 migration of food materials from the straw into the 

 corn has not been quite so thorough. Straw will absorb 

 from two to three times its weight of water, and again 

 the variation in absorbing power between different 

 samples of the same kind of straw is greater than that 

 between different kinds of straw. In practice wheat 

 straw is the most highly esteemed, as cleaner and 

 wearing better under the feet of the animals than any 

 other kind of straw. Oat straw comes next, and is often 

 almost as good as wheat straw ; barley straw is least 

 liked, as it is often brittle and dusty. 



