218 NITROGEN, PHOSPHORUS AND POTASSIUM 



moist by the liquid excrement, sufficient bedding being used to 

 absorb the excess and to keep the stock clean. This is good prac- 

 tice provided the manure is hauled out in time and not allowed 

 to dry out and heat and decompose long after the animals have 

 been turned out to pasture. 



When manure is stored in the open, it should be placed in a 

 pile having a flat top and nearly vertical sides. Never should the 

 manure within the pile get so dry as to cause ^^fire-fanging^' or 

 burning. Piled as in Figure 147 it will heat. 



Fig. 147. — Another farmer has forgotten that manure has a value. 



Gardeners make use of compost heaps when they desire well- 

 rotted manure. Often other materials are mixed with the manure 

 when it is being piled, such as phosphate fertilizer, garbage, 

 garden wastes, etc., to make the manure a better fertilizer to meet 

 their needs. Hen manure can be better conserved and made a 

 more adaptable fertilizer to general trucking and gardening pur- 

 poses if twelve to fifteen pounds of acid phosphate, four to eight 

 pounds of muriate of potash, and five to ten pounds of gypsum, 

 or land-plaster, were added to every 100 pounds of the fresh manure. 



Manure cisterns and very deep pits are sometimes used to 

 store manure, especially the liquid. But because of the difficulty 

 in getting the manure out, comparatively few farmers in the 

 United States are using them. 



Gypsum, or land-plaster, is often recommended as a conserva- 



