Common Source of Losses.--When we bear in mind that four fifths of all the fertility removed from the land in the grains and coarse stuffs fed on the farm may be recovered from the animals and returned to the soil, we can appreciate the consideration that the care of manure should have on every farm. The careless methods that prevail in most sections of the country are an inheritance from the day when soils were new and full of fertility. These methods continue partly through a lack of confidence in the statements that the liquid portion of animal excrements, in average mixed stable manure, has nearly as great value as the solid portion. If this fact were accepted, many of the losses would be stopped. Another reason for continuance of careless methods is failure to appreciate that the soluble portion of manure is the highly valuable part, and that leaching in the barnyard carries away value more rapidly than decrease in volume of manure indicates. The widely demonstrated facts do not have effective acceptance, and enormous loss continues. Thorne found that manure placed in flat piles in the barnyard in January, and allowed to lie until April, lost one third of its value. Under the conditions prevailing on many farms the loss suffered by exposure of manure is far greater. [Illustration: Concrete stable floors.] Caring for Liquid Manure.--If all manure were in solids, one great difficulty in caring for it would not exist. The nitrogen is the most valuable element in manure, and two fifths of all of it in horse manure is found in the liquid. In the case of cow manure, over one half of the nitrogen is found in the liquid. More than this, a pound of nitrogen in the liquid has greater value than a pound in the solid because of its nearly immediate availability. There is only one good way of caring for the liquids, and that is by use of absorbents on tight floors or in tight gutters. American farmers find cisterns and similar devices nuisances. The first consideration is to make the floor water-tight, and clay will not do this. The virtues of puddled clay have had many advocates, but examination of clay floors after use will show that valuable constituents of the manure have been escaping. The soils of the country cannot afford the loss, and careful farm management requires acceptance of the truth that a tight floor is as necessary to the stable as to the granary. The difficulty in supplying a sufficient amount of absorbents on tight floors only emphasizes the loss where floors are not water-tight.