120 NATURAL MANURES. VI. 



Fresh manure From heap Well rotted, 

 14 days old. 85 months old. G months old. 



Water ... ... ... 66-17% 69-83% 75-42% 



Soluble organic matter ... 2-48 3'86 3-71 



,, inorganic ... 1*54 2-97 1-47 



Nitrogen, total ... ... -64 -74 -61 



Phosphorus pentoxide, total -32 -32 -45 



Potash ... ... ... -67 1-22 -49 



Lime ... ... ... 1-19 1-34 1-78 



Magnesia ... ... -15 -05 -14 



Ammonia ... ... -12 -08 -13 



Nitrates ... ... none traces none 



Fermentation of Farm yard Manure. Fresh manure 

 soon begins to ferment and to change its character. This is 

 due to the effect of the micro-organisms which find a suitable 

 breeding ground in the complex organic substances present 

 in the manure. An account of the bacteria of stable manure 

 and their action was given in a paper by Herzfeld in the 

 " Centralblatt fur Bacteriologie" in 1895, and a translation 

 appeared in the Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry 

 for 1895, p. 449. 



According to this paper the fermentations which manure 

 undergoes, partly in the stables, &c., but mainly in the heap 

 and finally on the land, may be divided into 



(a) Fermentations of the fatty acids. 



(b) Fermentations of the amido-compounds. 



(c) Putrefaction fermentation. 



(d) Ammoniacal or urea fermentation. 



(e) Sulphuretted hydrogen fermentation. 



(f) Cellulose or methane fermentation. 



(g) Fermentations of the carbo-hydrates. 



(a) Many of the fatty acids, or rather their salts (best the 

 calcium salts), are capable of undergoing changes under 

 the action of various bacilli, micrococci, and other bac- 

 teria, generally giving rise to the formation of other 

 simpler organic acids, often carbon dioxide and some- 

 times hydrogen and alcohol. 



