The Production of Manure. 189 



when compared to the value of the nitrogen. The value of the potash 

 in this food was only about one-half the value of the potash in the 

 clover hay, while the value of the nitrogen and phosphoric acid was 

 more than five times as great as the value of these constituents con- 

 tained in the hay. While meat scrap heads the list of foods in value of 

 its fertilizing constituents, it does not follow that its feeding value is 

 above that of other foods given in the table. The feeding value and 

 the fei'tilizer value of foods are separate and entirely distinct values, 

 and care should be taken not to use them interchangeably. While a 

 food may have a high feeding value for certain purposes, its fertilizer 

 value may be correspondingly low. To illustrate this point, corn meal 

 has a high feeding value for the production of fat meat, while on the 

 other hand its fertilizer value is very low, being only about two and 

 one-half times more than of wheat straw. 



Of the vegetable foods cotton-seed meal has the greatest value in fer- 

 tilizing constituents, and as was the case with meat scraj) the greater 

 part of the value is in the proportionately large amount of nitrogen 

 which it contains, and also like meat scrap the fertilizer value is equal 

 to the selling price as a cattle food in our markets. 



It will be noticed that corn meal has a low fertilizer value; not only 

 is it poor in phosphoric acid and potash but it is also low in nitrogen, 

 the total value, five dollars and sixty six cents per ton, being only a 

 little more than two-thirds of the fertilizer value of clover hay. While 

 corn meal ranks high as a food its fertilizer value is low and is often 

 over-estimated by many stock feeders. This over-estimation in fertilizer 

 value probably comes from estimating the fertilizer value from the feed- 

 ing value. 



The clover hay fed in this series of experiments had a fertilizer value 

 of seven dollars and fifty-five cents per ton, which is often as much as the 

 selling price of clover hay. It is true with the hay also, that the greater 

 part of the fertilizer value is in the nitrogen which it contains, although 

 the mineral matter contained in the hay is considerably more than that 

 in coi'n meal. 



When we compare the fertilizer value of corn meal and clover hay 

 we may expect greater value in the manure produced from a ton of 

 clover hay than from a ton of corn meal. 



Oats have a fertilizer value of $6.70 per ton, which is greater than 

 that of corn meal but less than that of clover hay. 



Wheat bran is the richest in mineral matter of our common concen- 

 trated foods, having a fertilizer value of $12.30 of which the phos- 



