26 JUN 1908 



THE JOURNAL 



OF THE 



BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, 



Vol. XV. No. 3* 



JUNE, 1908. 



FARMYARD MANURE. 

 A. D. Hall, M.A., 



Director of the Rothamsted Experimental Station. 



II. Its Value as a Fertiliser.* 

 A large number of analyses made at Rothamsted have 

 shown that farmyard manure contains on the average about 

 three-quarters of its weight of water, about two-thirds of 

 one per cent, of nitrogen, one-quarter of one per cent, of 

 phosphoric acid and one-third of one per cent, of potash, or 

 per ton about 15 lb. of nitrogen, 5 lb. of phosphoric acid, 

 and 7 lb. of potash. The composition, however, will vary 

 very greatly both with the nature and feeding of the 

 animals and the treatment and storage the manure has 

 received. 



The influence of the feeding is well illustrated in a series of 

 analyses of two lots of dung made in adjoining boxes by 

 bullocks receiving in one case roots and hay only, and in the 

 other a fattening ration of cake in addition to the roots and 

 hay. The two lots of dung were generally made up into 

 separate mixens out of doors and sampled a month or two 

 later when they were carted out to the land ; in one case 

 they were sampled as they left the boxes. Table VII shows 

 the analytical results, not only as regards the total nitrogen, 

 but also that present as salts of ammonia and as amido com- 

 pounds easily changing into ammonia. 



* See "Farmyard Manure. I. Losses during Making and Storage/' Journal y 

 Vol. XV., No. 1, April, 1908, p. 7. 



(3599) L 



