PRESERVATIVES IN MANURE 107 



ing out seed, such as clover, soy beans, field beans and pea vines. 

 It is well to let much of this material pass through the manger and 

 be picked over by animals before it is used for bedding. The more 

 modern use of shavings and sawdust as bedding for dairy cows 

 has resulted from efforts to reduce the amount of dust so that 

 clean milk may be produced. Shavings and sawdust as ingre- 

 dients of manure are not particularly beneficial to the soil. If 

 they are made from pine timber there may be much resin present 

 which will prevent their rapid decay and cause plants to suffer 

 worse from drought. One effect is sometimes described by saying 

 they make the soil sour. The hard wood products are less detri- 

 mental. 



The immediate spreading of manure on the fields almost 

 daily is considered the best method of making use of it in America. 

 Where many animals are housed during the winter a special 

 wagon or a manure spreader may be kept under cover where it 

 will be filled as the barn is cleaned. The time required to haul 

 it to a field and spread it by the power of the team itself is very 

 little and hand labor is reduced to a minimum. Contrast with 

 this the bad method too commonly practiced of throwing the 

 manure into the yard from the barn, allowing it to waste by 

 leaching and burning; then in the spring and summer when all 

 lines of farm work are clamoring for attention, it is dug out, loaded 

 on wagons, sometimes put in piles in the field and again handled 

 in spreading. By a little proper planning a suitable place may be 

 found at all times for the immediate spreading of manure as fast 

 as it is made. If some fields are too muddy, spread it on sod or 

 grass. Do not hesitate to spread manure when there is snow on 

 the ground. The melting of snow will help take the fertility into 

 the soil. There can never be such great loss in the field as in the 

 barnyard. 



Covered yards are sometimes provided for the shelter of loose 

 stock feeding from racks. The manure is tramped down daily, no 

 "fire fanging" occurs, and there is practically no loss from leach- 

 ing. It is a very economical way of preserving the manure from 

 sheep, swine, beef cattle and young stock running loose. Such 

 covered yards are frequently used as exercise lots for dairy cattle or 

 other animals, whether they are fed there or not. If the shed 

 is well enclosed on all sides but the south, much of the time of 

 the animals may be spent there during winter. 



Some stockmen realize the value of keeping manure under 



