March 1, 1900.] THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
589 
suehers. Plant good thick Btont banana roots, and 
orange plants giown in a nursery, not miserable 
things yanked out of cow pastures. — Journal of the 
Jamaica Agricultural Society. 
WiUiamsfield. J. Doidge. 
PKKSEKVATION OF STABLE MANURE. 
( Continued from iJage 316. ) 
"Equal weights of horse and cow manure, 4 ton 
of each, were intimately mixed. A sample of this 
mixed manure was taken and analysed. This gave 
the composition of the manure at the beginning of 
the experiment. Then the 8 tons were divided into 
two equal parts, and 4 tons were placed in a small 
bnildinf' that was weather-proof, and compressed by 
pounding ; the other 4 tons were placed in an open 
bin. In this bin tho manure was exposed to every 
rain that fell, but the sides and floors being con- 
structed of double boarding, all due precaution against 
the leaching was taken. From month to month, 
for a whole year, both these manures were weighed 
and sampled. The samples were then submitted to 
careful analysis, and from the figures obtained the 
losses which might have occurred were calculated, 
both in the 'protected' and -exposed' im,nure3. 
From these figures it is possible to say whether 
the plant-food in either of the manures had become 
more available. The following chart will show clearly 
the results arrived at: — 
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Farther, in addition to determining the total arcoants 
of those elements enumerated, the amounts of such 
as were converted into compounds more available 
plant absorption, were estimated month by month, 
ibis is an important matter, as these constituents 
are of practically but little value to crops until they 
have been so converted. 
Mr. Shutt adds: — "In considering the charts, I 
wish, fiist, to call attention to the richness of the 
fresh manure as produced on the Experimental Farm, 
Ottawa, compared with manures ordinarily found iu 
the barnyards throughout the country. 
Average on Farms C. E. F. 
lb. per ton. lb. per ton. 
Nitrogen 7-8 12-0 
Phosphoric Acid 3-6 6'1 
Potash .... 9 0 15-3 
"You will notice that there is a very great dif- 
ference in favour of the C. E. F, manure. I attri- 
bute it chiefly to the greater care of the liquid 
manure on the Experimental Farm, We know that 
the liquid manure is by far the richer iu nitrogen 
and potash, and I cannot impress upon you too 
strongly the desirability of using suflicient absorbent 
litter to hold all the urine. This is a matter in 
which tons of most valuable plant-food are annually 
lost by farmers. 
" By referring to chart No, 1, you will notice there 
was a continuous loss in weight, both in the ' pro- 
tected ' and ' exposed ' manures, throughout the pe- 
riod of the experiment. This loss was largely due 
to the destruction of the organic matter by fermen- 
tation. This is made clear by comparing the amounts 
of organic matter present, month by month. Dur- 
ing the first three months the "protected' manure 
lost ],053 lb., and the 'exposed' mauure 1,147 1b. 
organic matter. At the end of the year the organic 
matter in the former had been reduced to 770 lb., 
in the latter to 607 lb. 
" Secondly, there is a similar (though not so great) 
loss of nitrogen. From 48 ib. in the ' protected ' the 
nitrogen was reduced to 4U lb. in three months ; in 
the 'exposed' the nitrogen fell from 48 1b. to 34 1b. 
in the same period. Again we notice, then, the 
greater loss in the manure fermented without t)ro- 
tection. 
" Thirdly, as regards phosphoric acid, it is to 
be observed that practically there is no loss in the 
protected manure; in the exposed manure 4 1b. of 
the 2,5 lb. originally present were lost by drainage. 
" Considering the effect of fermentation upon the 
availability of the phosphoric acid it will be seen 
that iu tlie piotected manure the amount of such 
available phosphoric acid increased. This I deem a 
matter of considerable moment. 
"Fourthly, in speaking of potash we have again 
to record the fact that practically there was no loss 
in the protected manure. The case, however, is 
very different in the exposed manure- Although 
precautions were taken against undue leaching, by 
providing the bin with double flooring, yet neverthe- 
less there was a great loss of this element by soak- 
age. It must be remembered that the potash of 
manure exists for the greater part in the urine, and 
consequently is present in solution. This exposed 
manure lost 22 lb. out of 62 lb. originally present — 
more than one-third. It seems to me that from a 
consideration of this experiment we may conclude 
that there will always be some loss on keeping 
manure unless it is preserved on a cement floor. 
In thinking over these results I would like every 
farmer to ask himself if the conditions under which 
he rots manure are as go d as those of the exposed 
bin of this experiment. If not, his loss of potash 
will be greater Chan that we sustained. 
"la the following chart we have given the per- 
centages of the fertilising constituents lost under 
the two systems of rotting, and also stateJ the loag 
