Maine Agricultural Experiment Station. 1917. 97 



Composition of the manure as renwi'ed from the pit. 



Nitrogen Phosphoric Acid Potash 



Per Cent Per Cent Per Cent 

 Mixed Manure. (Cows, 



Horses, Hogs) 0.457 0.19 0.50 



Sheep Manure (with Hogs) 0.74 0.29 1.04 



The feed (including that of the swine) and the bedding for 

 the sheep carried approximately 1177 pounds nitrogen, 564 

 pounds phosphoric acid and 1485 pounds potash. The sheep 

 manure weighed 125,705 pounds and carried 931 pounds of 

 nitrogen, 490 pounds of phosphoric acid and 1307 pounds of 

 potash. 



The feed and bedding for the horses and cows carried 529 

 pounds of nitrogen, 207 pounds phosphoric acid and 576 pounds 

 potash. The mixed manure weighed 76,870 pounds and carried 

 351 pounds of nitrogen, 146 pounds of phosphoric acid and 

 384 pounds of potash. 



Seventy-nine per cent of the nitrogen, 87 per cent of the 

 phosphoric acid and 87 per cent of the potash in the feeding 

 stuffs used were found in the sheep manure and 61 per cent of 

 the nitrogen, 56 per cent of the phosphoric acid and 67 per cent 

 of the potash in the food and bedding given the cows and horses 

 was found in the mixed manure. In the case of the sheep tie 

 amount of plant food recovered in the manure agrees very well 

 indeed with the experiments that have been made where the 

 excreta have been collected, weighed and analyzed immediately. 

 In the case of the mixed manure, the trough behind the cows 

 was not water tight and there were not sufficient absorbents 

 used to take up all the liquid excreta. Also the horses were 

 used more or less upon the road and their droppings when they 

 were out of the barn were lost. 



On the whole, the manure platform described above has 

 worked satisfactorily. It was not expensive to construct, the 

 swine used to work the manure showed a profit after all food 

 and labor were charged to them, and apparently the manure was 

 kept with a very small loss of plant food. In Maine for the 

 six months of the year when it is not practicable to draw the 

 manure and apply it to the land as fast as it is made, this meth- 



