292 



Farmyard Manure. 



Treatment of Dung in the Homestead. 

 Attention should be given to : 



The Prevention of the Escape of Liquids, for these hold the 

 larger and much more valuable part of the plant-food. These 

 may drain into the ground if the floor of the yard or dung- 

 heap be porous, therefore the surface on which the mass rests 

 must be water-tight. More frequently, perhaps, they are allowed 

 to run away in a surface stream, and unless this can be led on 

 to a meadow or other field, the loss may be very serious. The 

 floor of the dungstead should not only be impervious to the 

 passage of liquids, but it should have a distinct slope backwards, 

 so that the front is two or three feet higher than the back. 

 No doubt concrete is the most satisfactory form of floor, but 

 no great waste, if any, will take place through a foot of well- 

 beaten clay overlaid by rubble. 



Over-heating* is productive of loss in various directions. The 

 heat that is always more or less associated with a mass of dung 

 shows that actual burning is going on, and, in the process, 

 . nitrogen escapes into the air. The weight of organic matter 

 is also reduced, and as part of the value of farmyard manure is 

 -due to its being a bulky organic substance, it is undesirable to 

 have this substance largely consumed in the dung-heap. During 

 -a winter's storage the loss of weight will usually be about 20 to 

 30 per cent., but it may be double this, and when the loss is 

 'excessive the capacity of the mass to suck up and retain liquids 

 is correspondingly reduced. Moderate decomposition cannot be 

 avoided, and is not to be regretted, for if no loss has occurred by 

 drainage, and but little by the air, the smaller mass will contain 

 practically all the original plant-food, and this, too, in a more 

 portable and convenient form. If, for instance, 5 tons have 

 shrunk to 4 tons the value of the latter quantity should be as 

 /great as the former, so that if 5 tons of fresh dung are worth 

 ri 5s.— i.e., 3s. per ton — 4 tons of matured dung will still be worth 

 S £ 5 s . — i.e., 3s. 9d. per ton. 



Over-heating is avoided by keeping the mass well compressed ; 

 and this is secured by the treading of animals — as in yards, courts, 

 .or boxes, — or by wheeling each barrow-load or cart-load over 

 -what was there before, or by loading on soil or rotten turf. The 

 mass should also be kept saturated with moisture, and this is 



