April 1, 1909 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
Farmyard Manure. 
The Board of Agriculture for Ireland 
has issued a useful leaflet on the pro- 
duction, management, and use of this 
manure. It is pointed ont that—(1) It is 
produced in greater or less quantity on 
every holding. (2) By its use the 
manurial ingredients removed by crops 
consumed on the farm may be returned 
directly to the land. (3) It forms the 
basis of most systems of manuring. (4) It 
is suitable for application to practically 
every crop. (5) It has a most important 
influence on the physical condition of the 
soil. 
Composition of Dung.—Dung isa com- 
plete mupure—that is, it contains all the 
elements of plant food likely to be 
deficient in a soil—vamely, nitrogen, 
phosphates, and potash. Although the 
quantities of thes: substaices found in 
farmyard manure are small as compared 
with the amounts contained in artificial 
manures, this deficiency is in a large 
measure made good by the hexvy dressings 
of dung it is customary to apply. Dung 
differs from artificial manures in several 
respects:—(1) the nitrogen, phesphates, 
and potash in it are present as much more 
complex compounds than they are in 
artificials, consequently the effect of a 
dressing of dung is spread over a longer 
period. (2) Farmyard manure has a 
heneficial influence on the physical con- 
dition of the soil. This effect, not 
obtained by the application of artificial 
manures, has an important bearing cn 
soil fertility. Dressings ot ‘long’ dung 
render heavy retentive soils more friable 
and pervious to air and water, drainage is 
facilitated, and the land made easier to 
work. On light land, the application of 
well-rotted dung increases the retentive 
power of the soil for moisture and plant 
food It is an important point in favour 
of dung that by its us» the fertility of a soil 
can be maintained without the disadvan- 
tage of diminishing the stock of vegetable 
matter, such as occurs when artificials are 
used exclusively 
Liquid and Solid Manures Compared— 
The liqnid portion of farmyard manure 
is more valuable than the solid since it 
contains a greater proportion of nitrogen 
and potash, and, furthermore, the in- 
gredients in it are in a more readily 
available and quicker acting form. Man- 
ure from which the liquid has been 
allowed to escape is much reduced in 
value, as most of the nitrogen and potash 
has been Jost. 
—Conditions Affecting the Quality of 
Farmyard Manure.— . 
Farmyard manure varies considerably 
in quality owing to the widely differing 
circumstances under which it is pro- 
duced. The chief conditions which affect 
its quatity are worthy of consideration, 
and will be briefly discussed. . 
Kind of Food Used.---The greater part 
of the manurial ingredients contained in 
foods are voided in the liquid and solid 
excrement. The average proportion of 
27 
the total of each of the manurial in- 
gredients consumed in food which pass 
into the manure are estimated as:—Nitro- 
gen, about 75 per cent.; phosphates and 
potash, about 90 per cent. respectively. 
Since the greater part of the manurial 
constituents of dung are derived from 
food, it is evident that the quality of the 
feeding stuffs used very largely influences 
the quality of the manure. Foods such 
as cotton cake. linseed cake, &c., rich in 
fertilising ingredients, produce good 
dung. 
Kind and Age of Animal —Young 
animals making rapid growth and cows. 
in milk extract greater quantities of the 
valuable ingredients from food than do- 
fattening animals or working horses, and 
consequently the manure derived from 
young animals and cows in milk is poorer 
in quality than that voided by fattening 
cattle or working horses. It is estimated 
that a cow in fall milk will extract from 
food four or five times as much nitrogen, 
three or four times the amount of phos— 
phates, and about ten times as much pot- 
ash as a fattening bullock fed on a similar 
ration. 
Litter.— Litter influences the character 
of farmyard manure in several respects. 
In the first place, the physical effects of 
dung, to which reference has already been 
made, depend mainly on the kind and 
amount of litter mixed through the 
manure and its state of decomposition at 
the time of application. Bulky litter 
which is but slightly rotted has the 
greatest physical effect on stiff soils, 
whilst the reverse holds good in the case’ 
of light soils. The materials used as litter 
of which straw and peat moss are in most 
general use, contribute in a small degree’ 
only to the chemical composition of the 
manure, and if used much in excess of the 
quantity required for absorbing the 
liquid the resulting product will be more 
bulky but less concentrated than where 
the amount of litter is restricted. 
Fresh and MRotted Manure.—Even 
under the most favorable conditions an 
appreciable loss of nitrogen occurs during 
the storing of dung, but provided the 
manure has been so treated as to reduce 
waste to a minimum, the smaller bulk of: 
_ rotted manure will contain most of the 
nitrogen ani practically the whole of the 
Fot GOODNESS Sake Usge 
VICEROY TRA. 
