ure, 559 lbs., of which 154 lbs. are soluble in water,
and 405 lbs. insoluble. If we had a heap of five tons of fermenting
manure in a stable, the escape of half an ounce of carbonate of ammonia
would make a tremendous smell, and we should at once use means to check
the escape of this precious substance. But it will be seen that we have
in this five tons of fresh manure, nitrogenous matter, capable of
forming over 180 lbs. of carbonate of ammonia, over 42 lbs. of which is
in a soluble condition. This may be leached day after day, slowly and
imperceptibly, with no heat, or smell, to attract attention.

How often do we see manure lying under the eaves of an unspouted shed or
barn, where one of our heavy showers will saturate it in a few minutes,
and yet where it will lie for hours, and days, and weeks, until it would
seem that a large proportion of its soluble matter would be washed out
of it! The loss is unquestionably very great, and would be greater if it
were not for the coarse nature of the material, which allows the water
to pass through it rapidly and without coming in direct contact with
only the outside portions of the particles of hay, straw, etc., of which
the manure is largely composed. If the manure was ground up very fine,
as it would be when prepared for analysis, the loss of soluble matter
would be still more serious. Or, if the manure was first fermented, so
that the particles of matter would be more or less decomposed and broken
up fine, the rain would wash out a large amount of soluble matter, and
prove much more injurious than if the manure was fresh and unfermented.

"That is an argument," said the Deacon, "against your plan of piling and
fermenting manure."

"Not at all," I replied; "it is a strong reason for not letting manure
lie under the eaves of an unspouted building--especially _good_ manure,
that is made from rich food. The better the manure, the more it will
lose from bad management. I have never recommended any one to pile their
manure where it would receive from ten to twenty times as much water as
would fall on the surface of the heap."

"But you do recommend piling manure and fermenting it in the open air
and keeping the top flat, so that it will catch all the rain, and I
think your heaps must sometimes get pretty well soaked."

"Soaking the heap of manure," I replied, "does not wash out any of its
soluble matter, _provided_ you carry the matter no further than the
point of saturation