6 FARMYARD MANURE. 



from rain, consists of one-third of dry matters and two -thirds of 

 moisture. 



An inspection of the analytical results just mentioned will 

 further bring to view several interesting particulars : 



-1. In fresh dung the proportion of soluble organic and mineral 

 substances is small. This circumstance fully explains the slow 

 action of fresh dung when compared with the effect which well- 

 rotten manure is capable of producing. 



2. The proportion of insoluble matters, more especially of in- 

 soluble organic matters, in fresh dung, on the contrary, is very 

 large. By far the larger proportion of the insoluble organic 

 matters consists of straw, changed but little in its physical cha- 

 racter and chemical composition. 



In the sample of manure analysed the amount of insoluble 

 organic matters is ten times as great as that of soluble organic 

 matters, and the proportion of insoluble mineral substances 

 nearly three times as large as the amount of soluble mineral 

 matters. 



3. Fresh dung contains a mere trace of ammonia in a volatile 

 state of combination, and but a trifling quantity of ammonia in 

 the form of ammoniacal salts. 



4. The total amount of nitrogen contained in the soluble portion 

 of fresh manure likewise is inconsiderable. Most of the nitrogen 

 which, as we shall see by-and-by, is gradually liberated as the 

 fermentation of dung progresses, is contained in the portion of 

 the manure which is insoluble in water. In other words, com- 

 paratively speaking, little nitrogen exists in fresh dung in a state 

 in which it can be assimilated by the growing plants. Thus, in 

 the sample analysed, the readily available amount of nitrogen in 

 100 Ibs. of fresh dung is only '149 of a lb., whilst about four 

 times as much nitrogen, or, in exact numbers, '494 lb., occurs in 

 the insoluble portion of 100 Ibs. of fresh dung. 



5. A comparison of the composition of the organic soluble 

 matters with the composition of the organic insoluble matters of 

 fresh dung, however, shows that the former are far more valuable 

 than the latter, inasmuch as the soluble organic matters contain 

 a very much larger percentage of nitrogen, and in a state of com- 

 bination in which nitrogen is available to the immediate use of 

 plants. 



This will appear from the following numbers : 



100 parts of organic soluble matters in fresh dung contain 6*04 of nitrogen, 

 100 insoluble matters 1'92 



In the same weight of each there is thus more than three times 

 as much nitrogen in the soluble organic matters as in the in- 

 soluble organic matters. 



