Notes on the Proper Handling of Barn- 

 yard Manure. 



C. WELLINGTON. 



Every practical fanner knows certain facts about barnyard 

 manure, which for present purposes may be summecl up as follows : 



1. " Barnyard manure" is the name given to mixtures of various 

 excrements with a great variety of other material and cannot be 

 fairly represented by a single analysis. Generally speaking it is a 

 mixture of horse and cow manure, with straw or leaves or sawdust, 

 which has served as litter. Sometimes earth is used in place of such 

 litter. The mixture is then of a very different nature and will be 

 referred to after barnyard manure with litter has been described. 



2. Any one of these mixtures excepting that with earth is known 

 in three different conditions, namely :^ fresh manure, half-rotted 

 and well- rotted, manure. 



3. Of these, half-rotted manure gives the best results, and well- 

 rotted the poorest, while fresh manure shows a medium elfect. 



The pur|)0se of the present remarks is to explain why the last 

 statement is true, and to note briefly the best manner according to 

 present information in which to make barn-yard manure and to use 

 it. 



If a pile of fresh manure, that is, a mixture of solid and liquid 

 excrement and straw, etc., lies for several months without disturb- 

 ance it grows smaller and smaller. It is comparatively dr}^, the 

 straw has disappeared and has become " humus." 



The whole mixture is more uniform in color and character. It is 

 half-rotted ; then after a few more months the bulk has grown very 

 much smaller and a black, moist, slimy, homogeneous mass results, 

 and the manure is icell-rotted. 



Chemists have long known in a general way what changes take 

 place during this process, but not until recently has anything like a 



