98 TALKS ON MANURES. 



the manure under the heap that will be so compact that it will not 



ferment, and the weed-seeds will not be killed." 



" You think," said I, "- that weed-seeds can be killed in this way? " 

 " I know they can," he replied," but the heap must be carefully 



made, so that it will ferment evenly, and when the pile is turned, 



the bottom and sides should be thrown into the center of the heap." 



LOSS OF AMMONIA BY FERMENTING MANURE. 



If you throw a quantity of fresh horse-manure into a loose heap, 

 fermentation proceeds with great rapidity. Much heat is produced, 

 and if the manure is under cover, or tbere is not rain enough to 

 keep the heap moist, the manure will "fire-fang" and a large pro- 

 portion of the carbonate of ammonia produced by the fermentation 

 will escape into the atmosphere and be lost. 



As I have said before, we use our horse-manure for bedding the 

 store and fattening pigs. We throw the manure every morning 

 and evening, when the stable is cleaned out, into an empty stall 

 near the door of the stable, and there it remains until wanted to 

 bed the pigs. We find it is necessary to remove it frequently, 

 especially in the summer, as fermentation soon sets in, and the 

 escape of the ammonia is detected by its well known pungent 

 smell. Throw this manure into the pig-cellar and let the pigs 

 trample it down, and there is no longer any escape of ammonia. 

 At any rate, I have never perceived any. Litmus paper will detect 

 ammonia in an atmosphere containing only one seventy five 

 thousandth part of it; and, as Prof. S. W. Johnson once remarked, 

 "It is certain that a healthy nose is not far inferior in delicacy to 

 litmus paper." I feel sure that no ammonia escapes from this 

 horse-manure after it is trampled clown by the pigs, although it 

 contains an additional quantity of " potential ammonia " from the 

 liquid and solid droppings of these animals. 



Water has a strong attraction for ammonia. One gallon of ice- 

 cold water will absorb 1,150 gallons of ammonia. 



If the manure, therefore, is moderately moist, the ammonia is 

 not likely to escape. Furthermore, as Dr. Vo3lcker has shown us, 

 during the fermentation of the manure in a heap, ulmic and humic, 

 crenic and aprocrenic acids are produced, and these unite with 

 the ammonia and "fix" it in other words, they change it from 

 a volatile gas into a non-volatile salt. 



If the heap of manure, therefore, is moist enough and large 

 enough, all the evidence goes to show, that there is little or no 

 loss of ammonia. If the centre of the heap gets so hot and so dry 

 that the ammonia is not retained, there is still no necessity for loss. 



