BARNYARD, STABLE, GREEN MANURES 103 



to the minimum. If it is protected from rains and sufficient absorbent 

 material has been used in the bedding, loss is comparatively small. 



When horse manure is placed by itself, it ferments very rapidly and 

 soon loses its nitrogen. Such fermentation can be materially reduced by 

 compacting the manure pile thoroughly and applying sufficient water to 

 keep it constantly wet. This same rapid decomposition and loss of nitro- 

 gen will take place in case of mixed manures if they are neither compacted 

 nor wet, although loss will not be so rapid. 



The use of covered barnyards for protecting manure has in recent 

 years met with much favor in some portions of the country. 



Losses of Manure. — A practice too common in many sections is to 



Piles of Manure Stored Under Eaves of Barn, Showing 

 How Loss Takes Place. 1 



throw the manure out of stable doors and windows, and allow it to remain 

 for a considerable length of time beneath the eaves of the barns. This 

 not only -exposes it to direct rainfall, but also subjects it to additional 

 rain collected by the roof of the building. Under these conditions the 

 leaching of the manure and the consequent loss is very great. Where 

 manure piles remain long under these conditions, it is sometimes doubtful 

 whether the depleted manure is worth hauling to the field. Certainly 

 this is a practice to be condemned. Both the mineral constituents and 

 organic matter are carried off in the leachings. 



Experimental Results. — Experiments at the Cornell Experiment 

 Station where manure remained exposed during six summer months 

 showed a percentage loss for horse manure as follows: gross weight 57 



1 Courtesy of Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N. Y. From " Soils," by Fletcher. 



