132 STALL-MANURE AND STRAW. 



On the contrary, many agriculturists in the other 

 provinces of Saxony meditate its introduction, and 

 the favorable testimonies of such as have already led 

 the way will not fail speedily to call forth a wider 

 imitation. 



Thus much is certain, that manure kept under 

 stock in the stable possesses a stronger manuring 

 power than that preserved upon dung-heaps in the 

 ordinary manner. The cause of the difference con- 

 sists in the fact, that the former absorbs and retains 

 a far larger quantity of urine, and that the fermenta- 

 tion or putrefaction of the bulk of straw or manure, 

 when continually pressed together by the weight of 

 the cattle, takes place but slowly, and with the es- 

 cape of few volatile elements. 



The compact condition of the mass prevents the 

 penetration of the external atmospheric air, as like- 

 wise in a high degree the escape of the vapors and 

 gases generated in its interior by means of putrefac- 

 tion ; and both circumstances together, in connection 

 with the tolerably equable temperature of the stable, 

 are more effective in promoting a gradual and undis- 

 turbed rotting of the manure than a lively fermenta- 

 tion. If it is further taken into account, that manure 

 in the stable is protected against the desiccating ac- 

 tion of the sun and the soaking lixiviation of rain, 

 as also against draughts and wind, which greatly 

 accelerate the volatilization of the aeriform products 

 of putrefaction ; and that, of the ammonia set at free- 

 dom by the rotting, but detained mechanically in the 



