“Having described at length my experiments with farm-yard manure,” he says, “it may not be amiss to state briefly the more prominent and practically interesting points which have been developed in the course of this investigation. I would, therefore, observe: “1. Perfectly fresh farm yard manure contains but a small proportion of free ammonia. “2. The nitrogen in fresh dung exists principally in the state of insoluble nitrogenized matters. “3. The soluble organic and mineral constituents of dung are much more valuable fertilizers than the insoluble. Particular care, therefore, should be bestowed upon the preservation of the liquid excrements of animals, and for the same reason the manure should be kept in perfectly water-proof pits of sufficient capacity to render the setting up of dung-heaps in the corner of fields, as much as it is possible, unnecessary. “4. Farm-yard manure, even in quite a fresh state, contains phosphate of lime, which is much more soluble than has hitherto been suspected. “5. The urine of the horse, cow, and pig, does not contain any appreciable quantity of phosphate of lime, whilst the drainings of dung-heaps contain considerable quantities of this valuable fertilizer. The drainings of dung-heaps, partly for this reason, are more valuable than the urine of our domestic animals, and, therefore, ought to be prevented by all available means from running to waste. “6. The most effectual means of preventing loss in fertilizing matters is to cart the manure directly on the field whenever circumstances allow this to be done. “7. On all soils with a moderate proportion of clay, no fear need to be entertained of valuable fertilizing substances becoming wasted if the manure cannot be plowed in at once. Fresh, and even well-rotten, dung contains very little free ammonia; and since active fermentation, and with it the further evolution of free ammonia, is stopped by spreading out the manure on the field, valuable volatile manuring matters can not escape into the air by adopting this plan. “As all soils with a moderate proportion of clay possess in a remarkable degree the power of absorbing and retaining manuring matters, none of the saline and soluble organic constituents are wasted even by a heavy fall of rain. It may, indeed, be questioned whether it is more advisable to plow in the manure at once, or to let it lie for some time on the surface, and to give the rain full opportunity to wash it into the soil. “It appears to me a matter of the greatest importance to regulate the application of manure to our fields, so that its constituents may become properly diluted and uniformly distributed amongst a large mass of soil. By plowing in the manure at once, it appears to me, this desirable end can not be reached so perfectly as by allowing the rain to wash in gradually the manure evenly spread on the surface of the field.