If manure is to be stored and all applied at one time, either 

 in the spring or fall, it should be kept under cover, the heaps 

 well leveled down and hogs kept on it, in this way it is packed 

 solid and the air largely excluded, this prevents fermentation 

 to a large extent, and thus preserves the nitrogen. It is well 

 known that sheep manure so long as it lays in the pen is pack- 

 ed so solid that no fermentation takes place, but as soon as 

 thrown into a pile it quickly "heats" and gives off strong gases, 

 this is caused by the access of air, the same is true of all ma- 

 nures. 



A liberal use of absorbents is always to be recommended 

 and when available there is nothing better than sawdust, no 

 that the sawdust in itself contains much that is useful, but it 

 readily takes up the liquids, and makes (he manure easy to 

 spread. Muck when well dried is a valuable absorbent. Straw 

 and meadow hay are much used, but, unless of very poor qual- 

 ity they can bs put to better use. 



As a general rule manure should not be plowed in deep, 

 more manure is lost by burying too deeply than by exposure to 

 the air, and if it were possible to mix evenly the whole of the 

 manure with the first three inches of surface soil, it would be in 

 the best possible position for the ordinary crops. Every rain 

 tends to carry the nitrogen, phosphoric acid and potash down 

 into the soil, and the action of the air near the surface tends to 

 render avilable the unavailable parts of the manure, but if 

 deeply plowed in, this decomposition is slow, and often unsatis- 

 factory. 



FERTILIZERS OTHER THAN FARM YARD MANURES. 



But after all the manure is used there is in most cases a 

 deficiency to be made up, this deficiency is caused by the sale 

 of farm products, the following table shows the nitrogen phos- 

 phoric acid and potash, carried away in one thousand pounds 

 of the substance mentioned. 



