The research project was conducted in Maine to determine the maximum acceptable rates of application of poultry manure in: Excessively drained glacial outwash; Well drained glacial till; and Poorly drained Maine soils, using field plots and a lysimeter study. Periodic analyses were made of soil, soil water and groundwater samples from a Windsor loamy sand treated annually for two years with poultry manure at nitrogen rates up to 1400 pounds per acre. Results indicate that mineralization of N occurred rapidly and that nitrate content of the subsoil just above the groundwater became high at times at rates above 350 pounds of nitrogen per acre. Nitrogen did not move downslope in any form. When nitrogen in poultry manure was applied to a poorly drained Scantic silt loam, an unacceptable amount of nitrate N moved through the profile into the free water table.