20 
Colorado Experiment Station. 
An objection might be raised that the difference in content of 
free ammonia was the result of unequal bacterial activity, and that 
more ammonia had been formed in No. 19 than in the others, but a 
comparison of the determinations of total nitrogen in the thoroughly 
dried samples, shows that the ammonia had been formed in equal 
amounts in these manures, but had been lost before being changed 
into a form which could be better retained by the manure. 
This can be seen to better advantage by repeating the figures 
given in Table II for these four manures. 
Total nitrogen Total nitrogen 
in fresh samples. in air-dried manure. 
No. 18 - 1.935 - 1.430 
No. 19 - 2.385 - 1.331 
No. 20 _ 1*831 _ 1.673 
No. 21 _ 1*715 _ 1 • 5 2 9 
It will be noticed that all four manures have nearly the same 
amount of nitrogen in the air-dried samples, and since the sheep were 
all fed alike, at the same time and in the same way, it would be 
reasonable to suppose that these manures had over two percent of 
total nitrogen as they lay in the corrals and it was only when they 
were scraped out and aerated that the ammonia was lost. 
Another factor tending to preserve the ammonia in No. 19 was 
the larger amount of water present. 
No. 18_54*87 percent moisture. 
No. 19_63.57 percent moisture. 
No. 20_ 5°*°5 percent moisture. 
No. 21 _47.92 percent moisture. 
No. 19 had not lost its moisture because it had been left undis¬ 
turbed in the corral, and this was not due to a favorable location. The 
corral in which it was found was on top of a hill with no shade of 
any kind. No. 18 probably had just as much or more moisture as 
it lay in the corral a few days before, but in scraping it up and haul¬ 
ing to the pile it had lost about 9 percent as we are justified in 
concluding from the fact that comparable samples from the same farm 
contained 62 and 63 percent moisture. 
Table II shows how dependent the percentage of free ammonia, 
and to a slighter degree that of the total nitrogen, is upon the water 
content of the manure. The more moisture in the manure the more 
free ammonia and total nitrogen is present. There are three samples, 
Numbers 18, 25, and 33 which came from the same farm. They were 
on the north side of a row of thickly set cottonwoods and the moist 
condition was noticeable at the time of taking the samples. Their 
larger percentages of total nitrogen, 1.935, 2. no, 2.157, show the 
