d plaster is often sprinkled on stable floors and about
manure heaps to prevent the loss of ammonia.

Copperas or blue stone, kainite and superphosphate are sometimes used
for the same purpose. There is, however, nothing better nor so good
for this purpose as dry earth containing a large percentage of humus.

Losses from washing or leaching by rain may be prevented by piling the
manure under cover or by hauling it to the field as soon as produced
and spreading it on the surface or plowing it under.

APPLYING THE MANURE TO THE SOIL

From ten to twenty tons per acre is considered a sufficient
application of barn manure for most farm crops. Larger amounts are
sometimes applied to the soil for truck and market garden crops.

Barn manures are applied to the soil by these methods:

The manure is sometimes hauled out from the barn and placed in a large
pile in the field or in many small piles where it remains for some
time before being spread and plowed or harrowed in.

Some farmers spread it on the field and allow it to lie some time
before plowing it in.

It is sometimes spread as soon as hauled to the field and is
immediately plowed in or mixed with the soil. This last is the safest
and most economical method so far as the manure alone is concerned.

When the manure is left in a large pile it suffers losses due to
fermentation and leaching.

At the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, five tons
of manure from the cow stable, including three hundred pounds of
gypsum which was mixed with it, were exposed in a compact pile out of
doors from April 25th to September 22d. The result was as follows:

----------------------------+-------------+-------------+----------
| April 25 | Sept 22 | Loss
| | | per cent.
----------------------------+-------------+-------------+----------
Gross weight | 10,000 lbs. | 5,125 lbs. | 49
Nitrogen | 47 " | 28 " | 41
Phos. acid | 32 " | 26 " | 19
Potash | 48 " | 44 " | 8
Value of plant food per ton | $2.29 | $1.60 |
----------------------------+-------------+-------------+----------

When distributed over the field in small piles and allowed to remain
so for some time, losses from fermentation take place, and the rain
washes plant food from