I I 24 



THE BOOK OF GARDENING. 



applied to the soil, will add about 6051b. of organic matter, 

 which will yield from 91b. to 151b. of nitrogen. But the large 

 amount of carbon in combination with the nitrogen causes it to 

 nitrify with comparative slowness, and the nitrifying process is 

 essential before dung becomes available for plants. The ton of 

 dung will also add 671b. of ash or mineral constituents, 

 supplying from 41b. to lolb. of phosphoric acid, and from 51b. to 

 131b. of potash. 



Stable V. Moss= litter Manure. 



Regarding the relative values of ordinary stable or straw 

 manure and moss-litter manure, it may be stated that farmyard 

 manure differs from moss-litter manure in several important 

 particulars. The quantity of straw employed as litter must 

 necessarily affect the general composition of fresh dung, and 

 more especially the amount of moisture which it contains. The 

 greater the amount of liquid manure the litter can be made to 

 absorb, the larger will be the heat developed. In fresh dung 

 the proportion of organic and mineral substances is small ; this 

 circumstance fully explains the slow action of stable manure 

 when compared with the effect which well-made moss-litter 

 manure — containing as it does more of both the solid and the 

 liquid excrements of the animals — is capable of producing;. 



The proportion of insoluble n'latters, more especially of 

 insoluble organic matters, in fresh dung, on the other hand, is 

 very large, and considerably exceeds those of moss-litter manure. 

 The total amount of nitrogen contained in the soluble portion 

 of fresh dung likewise is inconsiderable. Most of the nitrogen, 

 which is gradually liberated as the fermentation of the dung 

 progresses, is contained in the portion of the manure which is 

 insoluble in water. In other words, comparatively speaking little 

 nitrogen exists in fresh dung in a state in which it can be 

 assimilated by growing plants ; while in moss-litter manure, owing 

 to the large amount of carbonate of lime present (an ingredient of 

 the peat moss), the nitrogen of the animal excrements becomes 

 rapidly converted into nitrate of lime, and is assimilated by plants 

 at once. For this reason the staying powers of moss-litter manure 

 is less than straw-litter manure, weight for weight ; also the 

 nitrogen which is not at once taken up by the growing plants 

 is wasted by drainage. Therefore it is, that although moss-litter 

 manure may originally contain more nitrogen than the straw- 

 litter manure, it does not last so long, nor produce the crop 

 effects which one would be led to expect. 



Again, moss-litter manure is very poor in alkaline salts, especially 

 of potash, since these substances have been in great part washed 

 out by the water covering the peat deposits. The principal 

 constituent of the soluble ash of fresh dung, on the other hand, 

 so far as quantity is concerned, is potash. One hundred parts 



