Organic Manures 



other hand, their temperature, such as it is, is main- 

 tained for a very long time. They can be used for 

 warm beds, though not hot. 



Keeping and Management of the Dung Heap. 



Again, the value of manure depends very largely, 

 one might almost say chiefly, on its conservation 

 and maturing. On some farms, not to be imitated, 

 the manure is carried into the yard, and left 

 exposed to the wind, sun, and rain. The manure 

 dries on the outside, overheats, and is soaked, 

 and this happens over and over again according 

 to the atmospheric variations. It matures irregu- 

 larly. The rain draws up all the fertilising 

 elements and carries them away. The outside, dry 

 and wet alternately, but never in a condition 

 favourable to ripening, does not undergo much 

 alteration, but loses all the matter it has absorbed. 

 Meantime the interior of the heap ferments, and over- 

 heats, white moulds develop and free the ammonia in 

 great quantities, whilst the fermentation transforms 

 the ureas into carbonate of ammonia, which decom- 

 poses rapidly, and by decomposition liberates the 

 ammonia, till in the end there is nothing left but the 

 insoluble matters. Futhermore, from the heap of 

 manure a trench or gutter will draw off all the good- 

 ness it has contained into a ditch, and so it will be 

 irretrievably lost to the farm. 



This way of making manure, which, imfortu- 

 nately, is not rare, constitutes an unpardonable 

 waste and a grave mistake on the part of the 

 farmer. It ought never to be allowed. 



The first step towards improving this defective 



96 



