EXCREMENTS AND URINE. 99 



stalled cattle), there will also the most invigorating 

 manure be produced. In milch kine a by no means 

 inconsiderable amount of the more strengthening 

 constituents of the fodder (perhaps one third or one 

 fourth as much as is contained in the solid and fluid 

 excrements together) is eliminated by the milk ; and 

 hence it will appear quite natural, that the manure 

 must be deficient in exactly that quantity of invigo- 

 rating ingredients which is transferred to the secre- 

 tion just named. 



7. Tending of Animals. When an animal is long 

 exposed to cold and moisture, it requires a larger 

 quantity of provender ; for it must generate a greater 

 amount of heat in order to maintain its body at the 

 requisite temperature. Hence warm and dry sta- 

 bling leads, although not exactly to an important 

 improvement in the quality of manure, yet to a more 

 economical consumption of fodder. 



8. Quantity and Kind of Litter. Straw contains 

 far inferior manuring ingredients than the excrements 

 of animals, as will be shown in Chapter VI. ; by much 

 straw the latter are therefore, as it were, diluted, a 

 voluminous mass of little efficacy being thereby ob- 

 tained. On the other hand, straw importantly as- 

 sists in forming a very energetic manure from these 

 excretions, because it absorbs and retains the uri- 

 nous liquids. This end, the serving as a vehicle for 

 the retention of the urine, cannot of course be sub- 

 served in the same degree by leaf-littering, which 

 consists principally of dense woody and earthy 



