MANURES AND MANURING. 2OI 



It will be seen, as noted before, which is the 

 most valuable fertilizing agent, and that cattle 

 yard " muck " suffers a serious loss from urine 

 being allowed to run to waste. Much loss there 

 is also caused in India by the solid excrements 

 being used as a fuel for the whole of the organic 

 matter, which constitutes at least 85 per cent, of 

 dry dung, and which contains, amongst other 

 valuable plant food, a large per-centage of nitrogen, 

 the most costly and most difficult to replace of all 

 these foods, is then dissipated into air and lost. 

 Nor is any economy secured by using cow-dung for 

 fuel, since the selling price of a ton of dry dung 

 is, in most instances, in excess of the selling price 

 of firewood, and, at the least, double the price at 

 which firewood could be produced in the neigh- 

 bourhood of towns, and on the holdings of ryots 

 for their household use. 



" In Hindoostan the dung-heap is never under cover, and is 

 exposed to heat, wind, and rain. The consequence is that 

 all gaseous ammonia is expelled by the solar heat, and dis- 

 persed by the wind ; the rain washes out all soluble fertilizing 

 matters from the dung-heap, and that which remains is the 

 solid and least valuable part of the manure, being composed 

 of the undigested fibres of the hay and grass consumed by the 

 animal as food. This shows how necessary it is to make and 

 preserve manure under cover." J. F. Pogson. 



As litter for cattle, perhaps, the common bracken 

 would be better in some cases than hill grasses, or 

 general vegetable refuse. 



