22 
Colorado Experiment Station. 
of ammonia, showing - that ammoniiication had now almost entirely 
ceased, if, indeed, it had not done so sometime previously. 
The further loss of 46 pounds of total nitrogen during the sec¬ 
ond year points to the fact that ammonia was still escaping, though 
much less rapidly than in the fresh manure. 
Another fact responsible at times for large losses of nitrogen h 
the presence of denitrifying bacteria which set free elementary nitro¬ 
gen. 4 
CARBON AND HYDROGEN. 1 
Elementary carbon and hydrogen determinations were also mad 
on these samples of manure, the object being to find out to what exten 
the carbon accumulated in the manure as it grew older. Theoreticall; 
it would seem as though the amount of carbon would increase as th 
manure is changed by the bacteria with the formation of soluble salt 
and setting free of gases. Since the insoluble ash accumulates wit 
the age of the manure, this factor must be eliminated in the result 
The percentages of carbon and hydrogen are, therefore, re-calculate 
which gives a better basis for comparison. 
The re-calculated results present a remarkable series. Ear fror 
being a variable quantity or showing any accumulation with age, th 
ratio of the carbon to the hydrogen is as constant a quantity as 
\he material were a series of lignite coal samples rather than m; 
nures. The average gives a ratio of 33.6 to 4-9- The breaking dow 
of the cellulose with the liberation of carbon dioxide has kept pace wit 
other kinds of fermentation leaving the same relative amounts of bot 
carbon and hydrogen present in the manure. 
