Farm Manure. 



12, '5 



only one-half of its worth is realized. The greatest loss is through 

 the Avaste of the liquid excrement by the use of insufficient bed- 

 ding to absorb it. The boring of holes in the floor for the express 

 purpose of allowing the urine to run off as rapidly as possible is 

 by no means an uncommon practice. The following table gives 

 the composition of the solid and liquid excrement : 



Percentage of Fertilizing Constituents in Solid and Liquid Excrements 



Pound for pound the liquid excrement is more valuable than 

 the solid, except in the case of swine. It is perfectly safe to say 

 that of the total fertilizing material in the manure, two-thirds of 

 the nitrogen, four-fifths of the potash, and practically none of 

 the phosphoric acid, are found in the urine. It is apparent that 

 somewhat over half of the total value of the manure is in the 

 urine. Had the liquid portion of the manure been allowed to 

 run away, the Value of the excrement as calculated in the example 

 given above would have been less than $1000 instead of $2049. 



Another fact of great importance in this connection is that the 

 plant food in the urine is in a form that is soluble in water and 

 consequently more available to plants than that in the solid dung. 

 This is particularly true of the nitrogen. The solid excrement 

 consists in part of the undigested portion of the food, and before 

 its nitrogen can become available to plants, it must undergo de- 

 composition and decay. 



The difference in value of the solid and liquid excrement is 



