PRINCIPLES OF MANURING. 67 



I believe that if a farmer can afford to bu}- commercial fertilizers 

 he can safely make use of the above estimates in calculating the 

 manure value of purchased cattle foods, even if the food stuffs are 

 fed to milch cows or growing aniu):ils. When fed to fattening ani- 

 mals, still higher values could riglitfull}- be used. The table phiinly 

 indicates that when any material is bought to feed to cattle tlie 

 purchaser desires profit from two sources. He gets an increased 

 production of meat or milk, and also is able to raise larger crops 

 because of the greater amount of fertilizing material he is enabled 

 to appl}- to his land. Is it not a fact that the cheapest way to buy 

 fertilizers is to purchase them in the form of wheat bran, corn meal, . 

 or cotton-seed meal ? 



The weight of fresh manure that would be produced b}' a ton of 

 any food stuff" can be approximately determined. About 50 per 

 cent, of the solids of the food passes into the solid and liquid excre- 

 ments. The mixed excrements contain about three-fourths water. 

 Taking one-half of the solid matter in a ton of haj', which would be 

 half of about 1760 lbs. and multipl3'ing that weight by four, we 

 should have 3520 lbs. as the weight of manure from one ton of hay. 

 To this must be added the litter, bringing the quantity up to about 

 two tons. A cow wintered upon two tons and a half of hay would 

 therefore produce not far from five tons of manure, provided she be 

 well littered and none of the excrements be wasted. 



If the hay be first class, according to the estimates of the pre- 

 vious table the above five tons of manure made from two tons and a 

 half of hay would be worth about $14. G5, no account being made 

 of the value of the litter. What, over $14.00 worth of manure 

 from one cow in one winter, when she eats nothing but good hay? ■ 

 Yes, at the present prices paid for fertilizers it would cost that sum . 

 to replace the nitrogen, phosporic acid and potash in that manure if 

 it were sold from the farm. 



It might possibl}' be of some interest to estimate the money value 

 of a cord of stable manure, basing the calculations upon its chemi- 

 cal composition. Such manure varies so, howcA^er, in the amount 

 of water it contains, and because of the food that may have pro- 

 duced it, that the value placed upon any given sample would apply 

 only to manure produced under like conditions of food and treat- 

 ment. The excrements of A's animals, that eat nothing but ha}' and 

 straw, are much inferior to those from B's cattle that consume lai'ge 

 quantities of corn meal, bran and cotton seed. AVhen one purchases 



