Soils, Fertilizers and Irrigation 163 



Barnyard Manure and Alkali. 



In spots >ny huid is hard and has some black alkali. Will barnyard 

 manure help the hard land if cultivated in? 



Use stable manure because that would not only furnish nitrogen, 

 if your plants need any more, but it would add coarse material and 

 ultimately humus which would overcome the tendency of your soil 

 to become compact and thus concentrate alkali near the surface by 

 evaporation. Mellow the soil, increase the humus, make water move- 

 ment freer and good cultivation easier and alkali will become weaker 

 by distribution through a greater mass of the soil and may be too 

 weak at anj' point to be troublesome, unless you have too much to 

 start with. Put on manure at the beginning of the rainy season and 

 plow it under, with all the green stuff which grows upon it, during 

 the winter or early spring. 



Stable Manure and Bean Straw. 



What are the approximate contents of common stable manure; also, 

 hoii) much of the above is contained in bean straw? 



The composition of mixed stable manure is given as containing 

 in one ton: Nitrogen, 10 pounds; phosphoric acid, 5 pounds; potash, 

 10 pounds. The constituents of bean straw in one ton, are given as: 

 Nitrogen, 28 pounds; phosphoric acid, 6 pounds; potash, 38 pounds; 

 Of course, a large part of the difference in composition is due to the 

 excessive amount of moisture which ordinary stable manure contains. 

 Air dried stable manure, such as is found in a California corral, 

 would have much higher fertilizing value than such moist manure 

 as an Eastern chemist would be likely to handle. 



Roofing a Manure Pit. 



Is it necessary to roof a manure pit, if the pit is tight so that all 

 rain on manure is caught in the liquid manure and nothing is lost? 



To secure satisfactory composting of stable manures in a pit 

 it is necessary to be able to reguiate the moisture of the mass. 

 If it becomes too dry, too rapid fermentation takes place and the 

 material is destroyed by what is called fire-fanging. If too much 

 liquid enters the pit, so that the material is submerged, the air is 

 excluded and fermentation stops. For these reasons it is necessary 

 that a pit in the region of large rainfall be covered, and water be 

 used from a hose or other source of supply in just sufficient quantity 

 to keep the material right for slow fermentation. How much water 

 should be added to bring the moisture to a right condition depends 

 upon how much liquid waste runs into the pit, and where water is 

 used for cleaning a stable care has to be taken that the pit is not 

 submerged. Success with a pit is, therefore, conditioned on the 

 amount of moisture admitted, and this cannot be controlled unless 

 the pit has a cover fit to shed rainfall. Of course, it may be ad- 

 justable so that some rainfall may be admitted as may be desirable. 



