90 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



much poorer particularly in nitrogen and potash. This in- 

 feriority may in part l)e due to differences in feed ; but I 

 believe it is in a greater degree the result of imperfect 

 methods of saving and handling. 



The fio^ures marked ' ' Amherst " are the average results 

 of the analyses of twelve samples of cellar manure made 

 from the college herd of milch cows. The cellar was well 

 drained, so that there was no foreign water, and the bottom 

 was cemented and the walls pointed, so that there could have 

 been little or no loss of liquid. It will be noticed that the 

 most important difference between this and the average of 

 all the manures is a considerably larger percentage of potash. 

 This difterence we can readily understand, when we know 

 that a large part (usually about four-fifths) of the total pot- 

 ash excreted by animals is in the urine, which, under condi- 

 tions existing on many farms, is allowed in part to run to 

 waste. The results of the analyses of the liquid from the 

 gutter in a cow stable afford evidence of this. This liquid, 

 though ninety-three per cent water, contains more than 

 twice as much potash as average farm-yard manure. The 

 same results enable us also to understand in part why so 

 many manures are poor in nitrogen. It will be noticed that 

 this liquid manure contains more than twice as high a per- 

 centage of this element as average manure. It is well known 

 that manures suffer loss of nitrogen also through the escape 

 of ammonia into the air when it is allowed to heat in loose 

 piles. We cannot, therefore, wonder that they are fre- 

 quently very poor in this element. 



My remarks make sufficiently evident, perhaps, the pre- 

 cautions necessary to prevent unnecessary loss in the manure 

 pile. They must be such as to prevent loss of urine, leach- 

 ing and rapid fermentation or heating. The first two of 

 these conditions are secured in a perfectly drained and 

 water-tioht cellar for the accumulatinij manure, and the third 

 by keeping hogs thereon. These animals will keep the pile 

 so compactly trodden that it will not heat rapidly. Of 

 course the liberal use of absorbents, such as dr}^ earth or 

 muck, sawdust, plaster or kainit, may be made to contribute 

 to the desired result. 



So far as the amount of labor and the preservation of the 



