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 liquid 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 
