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AGRICULTURE 



CROSS SECTION OF HOTBED 



STABLE MANURE 



Benefits of Manure. Stable manure is the liquid and solid 

 excrement of farm animals. We find the richest farms and 

 the most prosperous farmers where stock raising is practiced and 

 the manure is properly saved and utilized. 



Stable manure increases the supply of plant food in the soil. It 

 does this directly by supplying some elements, nitrogen, potash, 

 phosphoric acid, and lime, and it does it indirectly by helping 



to change into available forms some un- 

 available elements. 



It also improves the condition of the 

 soil, binding together sandy soil and 

 loosening clay. It enables a soil to re- 

 tain more water and to yield it more 

 fully and more gradually to plant roots. By the heat which it 

 gives out in decaying and also by the heat which it absorbs from 

 the air, it warms the soil. It does this to such an extent that 

 ' hotbeds ' of manure are used to hasten the germination of seeds 

 and growth of plants. 



Value of Manure. The value of manure depends on the kind 

 of animals which produce it, 



their age and food, the methods 



of saving and applying it. As 



a rule, the more concentrated 



the food of an animal, the more 



concentrated, and hence the 



more valuable, is the manure. 



The manure from poultry, hogs, H TBED ' IN WHICH PLANTS ARE GROWING 



and horses, which are fed concentrated foods, is more valuable 



than cow manure, which is produced chiefly from coarse, bulky 



