428 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



In cases where different kinds of animals are kept, one of the 

 most effective means of securing moderate and uniform fermenta- 

 tion of the manure heap is to see that the moist cold cow and pig 

 manure is intimately mixed with the dry hot horse and sheep dung. 

 The former makes the heap more moist and checks the too rapid 

 fermentation and fire-fanging of the latter. 



It thus appears that in order to reduce the loss to a minimum, 

 manure heaps should be made compact and kept uniformly moist. 

 Under cover the last result is secured by collecting the liquid man- 

 ure and at frequent intervals sprinkling it over the heap, or when 

 the supply of this is deficient, by sprinkling with water. Where 

 the manure heap is exposed to the rain in pits from which there is 

 no drainage it probably does not require so much attention, but still 

 care must be taken to prevent loss by alternate leaching when heavy 

 rainfalls occur and drying out in time of drought. 



To secure such kind and degree of rotting as shall make the 

 manure easily handled and put it into the condition best suited to 

 the crops it is to fertilize, both extremes of moistness and cold, and 

 of exposure and heat, are to be avoided. 



It is a much-discussed question whether this mean condition is 

 best obtained in practice by the preservation of the manure in 

 dished yards, subject to more or less exposure to wind and sun, to 

 full exposure to rain, but to more loosely leaching, or under covered 

 sheds where it is protected from sun and rain, and largely from 

 wind. In both cases it is supposed to be compacted fully as the 

 heaps are forming. 



The use of completely covered barnyards for protecting man- 

 ure has in recent years met with much favor in certain parts of the 

 country. The manure from the horse and cattle stables and the 

 sheep and calf pens is spread out evenly over these yards, covered 

 with coarse litter, and the whole kept firmly packed by allowing 

 animals to run over it, thus preventing injurious fermentation. 



Many stables are so situated that by adding a cheap lean-to a 

 receptacle for caring for the manure is easily provided. The out- 

 side boarding of the lean-to should be, for a part of the way at least, 

 put on horizontally and hung in the form of flat doors, so that the 

 manure can be easily loaded on a wagon standing on the outside of 

 the building. 



The unsatisfactory results attending the use of manure sheds 

 and covered yards have probably been due to the fact that these 

 structures have generally been loosely constructed, allowing the free 

 circulation of air, which has dried out the manure. We have al- 

 ready seen the losses caused by dry fermentation. On this account 

 barn cellars, so common in New England, possess decided advan- 

 tages as receptacles for manure. The common practice of allowing 

 swine to work over the manure in these cellars is a wise one, since it 

 mixes the manure and keeps it well packed and moist. In fact, if 

 these cellars are provided with impervious bottoms to hold the liquid 

 manure, this system of storing manure is very efficient. 



