100 TALKS ON MANLKES. 



soluble matter wouUl be still more st-riou.s. Or, if the manure was 

 fir?t fermented, so that the particles of matter would be more or 

 less decomi)osed and broken up tine, the rain would wash out a 

 large amount of soluble matter, and jirove much more injurious 

 th:in if the manure was fn sh and unftrn>ente<l. 



"That is an argument," said the Deacon, "against your i>hin of 

 piling and fermenting manure." 



"Not at all," I replied ; "it is a strong reason for not letting 

 manure lie under the eaves of an tinspouled iiuihling — esiM-cially 

 guod manure, that is made from rich food. Tiie lutter tlie manure, 

 tlia mor« it will lose fnmi bad management. I have never 

 recommended any one to pile their manure where it would receive 

 from ten to twenty times as much water as would fall on the sur 

 face of the heap." 



" But you do rocommeml piling manure and fcnnentingit in the 

 open air and keeping the top tlat, so that it will catch all tijc rain, 

 and I tliink your heaps must sometimes get pretty well soaked." 



"Soaking the heap of manure," I replied, "does not wash out 

 any of its solulde matter, prorld) d \o\x carry the matter no further 

 than the point of saturation. The water may, and doubtless docs, 

 •wasli out the soluble matter from .wnie port ion.'; of tlie manure, but 

 if the water do<>s not filter through the heap, but is all absorbed by 

 the manure, there is no lo.ss. It is when the water pa.s8es through 

 the heap that it runs awa}' with our soluble nitrogenous and min- 

 eral matter, aud with any ready formed ammonia it may tind in 

 the manure." 



How to keep cows tied up in the barn, and at the same time 

 save all the urine, is one of the most ditlicult proldems I have to 

 deal with in the management of manure on my farm. The In-st 

 plan I have yet trieti is, to throw horse-manure, or sheep-manure, 

 back of the cows, where it will receive and absorb the urine. The 

 plan works well, but it is a question of labor, and the answer will 

 depend on the arrangement of the buildings. If the hor.-ies are 

 kept near the cows, it will be little trouble to throw the horse- 

 litter, every day, under or back of the cows. 



In my own case, my cows are kept in a basement, w ith a tight 

 barn-floor overhead. When this l)am-floor is occupie.l with sheep, 

 we keep them -well-bedded with straw, and it is an easy matter to 

 throw this soiled iiedding down to the cow-stable below, where it 

 is used to absorb the urine of tlie cows, and is then wheeled out to 

 the manure-iieap in the yard. 



At other times, we use dry earth as an absorbent. 



