446 



Farmyard Manure : Its Making and Use. 



[Aug., 



on the most valuable part of the nitrogen. It is probably not 

 far wrong to suppose that the manure from a bullock receiving 

 3 lb. of cake and upwards per day is worth 1 5s. or more per 

 month when made in a covered yard, but not more than some 

 10s. or 12s. per month vrhen made in an open yard. For a herd 

 of twenty bullocks, the loss in manurial value through having 

 no roof to the yard may be any amount up to <f*5 per month. 



It is often maintained, however, that some rain is necessary, 

 as otherwise the manure becomes too dry. While a certain 

 amount of moistness is necessary, rain may seriously damage 

 the manure by washing out some of its valuable constituents and 

 by bringing about certain undesirable changes. It is probably 

 better to keep rain away from the manure and to ensure suffi- 

 cient moisture by reducing the area over which the animals can 

 wander, thus obtaining a high proportion of excretions among 

 the litter. The comfort and v\-ell-being of the animals, however, 

 must always be the first consideration. Periodically pumping 

 liquid manure or water over the heap is not to be recommended. 



Storage of Farmyard Manure.— In the matter of storage the 

 Northern farmer has some advantages over his colleagues in the 

 South, one of which is that he can, as a rule, advantageously 

 apply farmyard manure to his land in the spring. Manure made 

 in the yards during winter can thus be hauled straight on to 

 the land and ploughed in with reasonable certainty that this is 

 the best thing to do. The Southern farmer, on the other hand, 

 while he may be driven to spring applications of farmyard 

 manure, would often obtain better results by appljdng the manure 

 in the autumn. The storage of farmyard manure over the 

 summer months thus becomes an important question. 



However carefully matters are arranged, directly the manure 

 is drawn from the yards some of its really useful nitrogen — the 

 30-lb. balance — begins to leak away. It forms part of llie odour 

 that gave the old farmers so much satisfaction. It enters largely 

 into the black hquid, which, even in a well-conducted farm, is 

 often seen draining away from the manure heap. Both smell 

 and Hquid are signs of leakage; but they do no^: represent the 

 whole of the loss. It is wrong to suppose that matters can be 

 put right by simply replacing the black hquid ; its very existence 

 is a symptom that bigger losses are taking place. 



Many attempts have been made to obtain a rehable estimate of 

 the amount thus lost. In experiments at Rothamsted the losses 

 varied from 7 per cent, to 35 per cent, of the total nitrogen. A 

 common loss was about 20 per cent., faUing chiefly on the urine 



