CHAPTER XXII 



STABLE MANURE: ITS COMPOSITION AND ITS 

 PRESERVATION 



The potential plant food contained in a ton of manure 

 is dependent upon five factors : the amount of water in 

 the manure; the sort of feed that has been given the 

 animals ; the kind and quantity of bedding that has been 

 used ; the care and preservation that has been given ; and 

 the class of live stock. 



All manure contains water. Manure contains a great 

 deal of water. If used by weight, it is readily seen how 

 much less valuable a lot of manure containing much water 

 is, when compared with another lot containing a less per- 

 centage. Suppose one lot contains eighty per cent, of 

 water and another lot sixty per cent. 



In the first instance there is twenty per cent, of dry mat- 

 ter, while in the second instance there is as much as forty 

 per cent, or twice as much dry matter, and, consequently, 

 tw r ice as much plant food. In the first instance, if eighty 

 per cent, is water, you have but four hundred pounds of 

 dry matter in every ton of manure. 



In the second instance, sixty per cent, being water, you 

 have eight hundred pounds of manure just double the 

 quantity. Four tons per acre of the latter kind applied to 

 the soil is as valuable, from the standpoint of potential 

 plant food, as eight tons of that kind containing eighty 

 per cent, of water. 



The nature of the feed. Animals fed on corn stover, 

 timothy hay, cotton-seed hulls, and corn produce 

 manure of inferior quality compared with that pro- 



