Farmyard Manure 



the liquid should be pumped over the whole 

 mass. 



Perhaps the most wasteful practice of all is 

 the common custom of leading the manure 

 from the cow yard and making a heap in the 

 field. It often stands for months in this 

 heap, washed by every rain that falls until it 

 becomes practically valueless. This method 

 also entails two handlings of the manure 

 when one would suffice. There is often 

 great waste of straw on English farms, 

 where the farmer trusts to the staw to 

 absorb the liquid manure. Straw is much 

 too valuable to be put to this use. There 

 is also great waste in bedding with too much 

 straw. The practice of feeding a large 

 amount of cake for the increased value of 

 the manure was given up some thirty years 

 ago on the continent. But it still continues 

 here, where the feeding of stock is, as a 

 rule, extravagant. If this is pointed out to 

 farmers they will say : " Yes, but we get the 

 value back in the manure;" yet, as has been 

 said, they treat the manure so badly that the 

 best part of it is wasted, and their object is 

 altogether defeated. In any case, this would 



55 



