257 MORE ABOUT 



FERTILIZERS 



deciding whether it is better to buy and mix the 

 fertilizers at home; then one may know what is 

 going on the land and the form of combination 

 it is in. 



Manure contains all of the elements we have 

 discussed in more or less fixed forms. The 

 liquid manure from animals contains a large 

 amount of the nitrogen passed from the body 

 and is of particular value. The most useful 

 parts of the manure are the ones which are 

 easiest lost; hence, if manure is piled and al- 

 lowed to ferment, or if the water from the roof 

 of the barn is allowed to wash it, serious loss 

 occurs. 



A ton of fresh manure has all the value it ever 

 will have, and if there is a piece of land upon 

 which it can be spread, it should be done at 

 once. The Uquid manure should be soaked up 

 by the bedding, and applied at once to the land. 

 The holding of manure in piles or pits always 

 causes loss of valuable elements. Sometimes 

 we may have to hold it, but every effort should 

 be made to arrange the crop so that it can be 

 applied somewhere each day as made. Manure 

 has a special value because it furnishes humus, 

 which greatly helps the physical condition of 

 the soil, and the bacterial and other microscopic 

 life in the soil. 



17 



