354 SOILS 



The higher the manure heats, the greater is the 

 loss. Dry, white, "fire-fanned** manure has had 

 a large part of its humus-making material destroyed. 

 Loss from the Escape of Urine. A third way in 

 which manure loses value is by failing to catch the 

 liquid portion. This contains more nitrogen and 

 more potash than the dung; yet, in many cases, 

 liquid manure is allowed to run to waste, while the 

 dung is saved. Moreover the plant food in the 

 liquid portion is immediately available to plants. 

 It should be saved as carefully as the solid portions 

 of the excrements. 



HOW TO CARE FOR MANURES 



Leaching usually causes more loss of plant food 

 from manure than either fermentation or the waste 

 of liquid manure; attention should first be given to 

 preventing this loss. There are two ways of doing 

 this : by hauling the fresh manure from the stable 

 and spreading it upon the land at once; and by 

 piling it under cover. 



Hauling manure direct from stable to field in- 

 volves little or no loss of fertility, as compared with 

 storing it, and is the most satisfactory method 

 whenever it is expedient. Usually, however, it is 

 not expedient to do this at certain seasons of the 

 year; it would interfere very seriously with other 

 farm work, while the hauling of stored manure 

 may be done to advantage in late fall and very 

 early spring when other work is not pressing. 



Usually at least a portion of the manure must be 

 stored, especially that made during the busy 

 months of seed time and harvest. In this case there 

 is but one sane thing to do; that is, to pile the 

 manure under cover. This is the only safe way 



