180 



FARMER'S CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



Covered yards for manure — There is 

 considerable discussion as to the value 

 of covered yards for preserving the ma- 

 nure. Where such sheds are loosely built, 

 so that the manure preserved under them 

 may be rapidly dried out, they are more 

 harmful than beneficial, but where they 

 are tightly built, so that the manure re- 

 mains in a moist condition, they un- 

 doubtedly furnish a valuable means for 

 preserving manure in a first class condi- 

 tion. 



The New England barn cellars, in 

 which manure is stored and worked over 

 by hogs, constitute one of the best meth- 

 ods of preserving manure. Another 

 method is that known as the deep stall 

 method. These stalls are built below 

 the surface of the ground and the manure 

 left in them to accumulate during winter. 



also renders soluble considerable quan- 

 tities of the insoluble fertilizing constit- 

 uents of the soil itself. 



Fresh manures are particularly valu- 

 able on heavy clay soils while on sandy 

 soil or light soil well rotted manure per- 

 haps gives best results. In rather moist 

 years, however, fresh manures will do 

 better on sandy lands than on heavy 

 soils because on the heavy soils they de- 

 compose very slowly, while on the lighter 

 soils with sufficient moisture, decom- 

 position is much more rapid. On light 

 soils there may be some loss by drainage, 

 but there is scarcely any loss whatever 

 in manures when applied to heavy soils, 

 since these soils possess powerful absorb- 

 ent qualities, which prevent the loss of 

 fertilizing ingredients. 



Fig. 131 — MANURE SPREADER READY FOR OPERATION 



Experiments have shown that manure 

 thus kept is preserved in ideal condition. 

 It is kept uniformly moist, the fermen- 

 tation is slow and there is practically no 

 loss of fertilizer constituents. This 

 is the method in common use by most 

 farmers in their sheep pen, and expe- 

 rience has shown that this manure when 

 drawn out in the spring is in the most 

 valuable form for turning under. 



Applying manure on the land — Kela- 

 tive to the application of manure to the 

 soil, both scientific and practical men 

 hold that the fresher it can be spread 

 on the land the less loss there is and the 

 greater the benefit. The fresh manure 

 when turned under readily undergoes fer- 

 mentation which not only disintegrates 

 the coarser particles of the manure, but 



Fresh manures tend to the production 

 of a rank succulent growth of stems and 

 weeds rather than grain. They are, 

 therefore, most useful in the produc- 

 tion of the hay crop, while for grain, the 

 more rotted material gives the better re- 

 sults. 



In applying manure it should be 

 spread in a thin, even layer over the sur- 

 face, the method of leaving in piles for a 

 month or more gives unsatisfactory re- 

 sults, because where the piles have been 

 made the growth is especially rank and 

 produces an uneven harvest. If the 

 fields are hilly, the manure should be 

 plowed under very soon after being 

 spread ; otherwise, there will be consider- 

 able loss in the drainage waters from 

 heavy rains, 



